Living For the First Time
by Ms. Perception
Summary: Rachel has always lived for her future. Fortunately, she has her fellow gleeks and a certain mohawk sporting badass to teach her about living and loving in the present. *formerly titled Being Rachel Berry*
1. That Friendship Thing

**Summary:** A series (hopefully) of interconnected one shots, drabbles, and some stand alones from the life of Rachel Berry as she learns to finally live life instead of only dreaming about it.

**Pairings:** mentions of Rachel/Finn, Santana/Puck/Rachel friendship

**Author's Note: **After getting hooked on the show two episodes into the second season and reading fanfics for months afterwards, I've finally decided to throw my hat into the ring and write a story. I'm a little bit rusty and out of my comfort zone. I'm really only used to writing for Buffy so this is totally new and kinda scary. I hope someone out there likes it.

* * *

This Friendship Thing

Rachel Berry knew for certain three things in life. One, she was destined for something more than Lima, Ohio. Two, Finn Hudson most likely was not the one for her. Three, there was so much more to Noah Puckerman than he let anyone see. This was evidenced by the fact that he was standing on her doorstep the first Sunday into winter break, carrying a bag of Chinese food, several movies (most of which were musicals) and Santana Lopez. He didn't even bother to explain as he pushed his way in, dragging a visibly reluctant Santana with him. He walked straight into the kitchen and began pulling out several containers.

"You eat yet, Berry?"

Rachel was still standing in the opened doorway gaping in surprise at where Puck and Santana once stood. She closed the door finally and turned around to find Santana trying to be as invisible as possible on the sofa while Puck was dividing what looked to be Rachel's favorite dish from what she could clearly see was her favorite restaurant onto plates. He then placed the plates on a serving tray and carefully carried them back out to the waiting girls.

"You never answered my question. Did you eat?"

She couldn't find the words to answer his question, so instead she shook her head. She had been struggling to get started the entire morning. She was usually done with her morning routine by this point. But ever since the disaster that was her reconciliation attempt with Finn at the Christmas tree lot, she had been feeling adrift. She had never felt more alone than she had when she found that he left her there. Her fathers were out of town and wouldn't be back until the following evening. So she had pulled out her phone with the intent to call one of the other glee members for a ride when the hurtful words from Sectionals echoed in her head. They only pretended to like her. No one would come for her.

It was only by chance that Puck came across her. He was driving back from the outlet mall with his sister when he came across her standing in front of the lot looking more than a little lost. It had taken her the majority of the ride back into town to convince Puck that beating the "ever loving shit" out of Finn was not necessary. He asked why she hadn't called anyone to come pick her up. She quietly admitted that she didn't think anyone would come because she had no friends. He surprised her when he held her hand, laced their fingers together and gently corrected her. She had him. She smiled, remembering all the times he had been there for her when she needed him. And apparently he meant that he always would be there.

"Why are you here, Noah?"

At the quiet interruption into Puck's ongoing battle with their new DVD player that her dads had apparently connected wrong, Santana looked up from her intense staring match with the couch pillows. It appeared even the cheerleader was confused as to what Puck was planning. Rachel took the opportunity to study the girl. Out of uniform, Santana didn't appear as formidable. She was wearing her hair down, pushed back only by a small headband that matched her white sweater. A black pair of skinny jeans and white UGG boots completed the outfit. She looked normal. Almost approachable.

Puck finally appeared satisfied that the movie was set to play and turned to face the two girls. "Look, the thing is that ever since things blew up with me and Quinn, I've found myself with not a lot of friends. Then I got put in juvie and shit got worst. The only two that don't look at me like I'm scum because they owe me something or are a little slow are you two. That makes you two like my best friends."

"That's kind of sad, Puckerman," Santana said, her voice lacking its usual level of venom. She toyed with the fringe ending of the pillow.

"It is a little awkward," Rachel agreed, sitting on the edge of the armchair.

Puck nodded, crossing his arms over his chest and looking unusually serious. "I agree. Especially since you two can't stand each other. Even though that's mostly Satan's fault."

Santana opened her mouth to protest but one quick glare from Puck had her shutting her mouth quickly. She turned her head away, glaring at the kitchen wall. The slight twitch in her jaw let them both know she was at least considering what Puck had said. Finally, she turned back to Rachel and sighed.

"I'm sorry," she gritted out through clenched teeth. "I shouldn't have said that we only pretend to like you. That's not entirely true."

"You're going to tell me that you kind of like me too?" Rachel snapped sarcastically.

Santana smirked slightly. "Well, actually I kind of do. You're not that bad. You're just intense and most of the time you can be really freaking annoying. But you're not the worst thing ever, I guess."

Rachel tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, silently contemplating Santana's words. While they were not the most complimentary words on the planet, coming from someone like Santana, they were virtually a declaration of love. She nodded in acceptance.

"Your performance of 'Valerie' was excellent. I don't think I would have been able to perform the song with the same energy and vigor as you."

Surprisingly Santana's face flushed and a more genuine smile appeared on her face. "Really?"

Rachel found herself smiling as well. "Yes, I really believe with a little more vocal training, you could be one of the better female performers in glee."

"And by one of the better, you're still putting yourself on the top, aren't you?" Santana asked, her tone lacking its usual venom. Rachel ducked her head and giggled. "I think Aretha might complain."

"Ever since Kurt left, she's ready to complain about everything," Rachel griped, moving over to the sofa. Puck turned the movie on and sat between the two girls, already digging into his food before the credits started to roll. Rachel's eyes widened as she recognized the film. "Funny Girl?"

Puck's neck flushed and he kept his eyes trained on his plate. "Yeah, well, I remembered you said that it helped you feel better. And I figured that you've been feeling pretty low these last few weeks. Thought it might help."

"Gee, Puckerman, you know her favorite foods and her favorite movies," Santana cooed with a teasing smirk. "You sure you don't like her, like her?"

Puck blushed again but turned a dark look in her direction. "Lilo & Stitch, turkey burgers with spinach, peanut butter smoothie and sweet potato fries."

"Huh?" Rachel was confused at the seemingly random list that Puck had rattled off. But it was clear that they had some meaning to Santana as her mouth opened slightly and her eyes softened.

"You remembered?"

"You are like one of my best friends," Puck mumbled, looking suddenly uncomfortable. "I need something to drink." He pushed himself up from the couch and stalked into the kitchen. Santana's eyes followed him until he disappeared into the kitchen. Then she turned around to Rachel with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"That's another reason I kind of like you, Berry. You make him be the better man we all know he is underneath the swagger. You bring out the Noah in Puck." Santana nodded. "I think this friend thing might actually work."

"Really?"

"Really. Just as long as you stay off the egg rolls. Those are so mine! But since this is your house, I guess I could spare a fortune cookie or two."

"Sharing is caring, Lopez. Or did you miss that episode of Barney?" Puck quipped upon arriving back in the room with an armful of drinks. Rachel couldn't help but be shocked by the fact that he remembered that she liked to drink water while eating but had also grabbed a diet Snapple that she knew for a fact was not in the refrigerator prior to their arrival in her house.

He took his seat between the two girls again and Rachel felt herself snuggling up to his side once she had finished her food. He wordlessly put an arm around both girls.

And that's how Rachel Berry spent the first Sunday after her horrible first term in school practically cuddling on her sofa with Santana Lopez and Noah Puckerman. She didn't even complain when they kept a running commentary during the film. She grinned when Santana started singing along with her. She melted when Puck stopped talking at the part he knew was her favorite. She outright laughed when two egg rolls and a fortune cookie suddenly appeared on the empty plate in front of her.

This friendship thing might just work after all.

* * *

*I hope that you liked this short little ficlet. I have others if anyone is interested in more. Ciao.


	2. Old Wives Tales

**Summary:** A series of interconnected vignettes the life of Rachel Berry as she learns to finally live life instead of only dreaming about it.

**Pairings: **Puck/Rachel/Santana friendship, hint of Puckleberry romance, Brittany/Artie, Mike/Tina, Sam/Quinn, hint of Finn/Quinn

**Warnings:** This is contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons. Rated T for language.

**Disclaimer:** I forgot to put this in the first chapter, but I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did I wouldn't be writing fan fiction. I would be staring at Mark Salling, Harry Shum Jr., and Darren Criss.

**Author's Note:** People liked it! I'm so glad. Thank you to all the awesome people who reviewed, favorited and just read. It really means a lot. I'm glad that you're enjoying the story and I hope that you'll enjoy this next part as well. This one picks up a few days after the first one. Warning to Finn and Quinn fans, there is a little bit of hating on their characters. But that won't be the theme of this story. So that being said, enjoy!

* * *

Old Wives Tales

Rachel tugged at the considerably lower cut than she would have normally worn dress nervously. She didn't know why she let Puck and Santana talk her into this. She had made herself a promise on that last day as they were leaving Mr. Schuster's house that she wasn't going to have any contact with anyone from Glee. Of course that had been ruined the very next day when Puck and Santana had showed up and invited themselves into her life. To her surprise, following their all day movie fest, Santana had invited Rachel to the mall for a shopping and girl's day. That evening they met back up with Puck and went bowling. For the first time in years, Rachel was starting to finally understanding what it meant to have real friends.

During the first week of break, the two girls had even managed to convince a very reluctant Puck to try ice skating. That wonderful experience in failure had ended with trip to the hospital for the trio after Puck slipped, busted his head against the divider and stopped moving for awhile. The two hysterical girls and one unconscious boy were whisked to the hospital via ambulance where they fortunately skipped the crowded ER and went straight through to the treatment area thanks to Rachel's dad. They then spent the rest of the afternoon being pampered by the nurses, Puck's mom among them, and enjoying the good coffee that they saved for the staff only. It was while they were in this room that the horrible, terrible awful idea came to fruition. It started as all bad ideas started: with Santana.

"You know Barbie is throwing a New Year's bash?"

Puck lifted his aching (and concussed) head from where he rested on the futon kept in the break room for quick naps between shifts. He squinted, obviously trying to figure out which of the Santana's in the room was currently speaking. Rachel eased him back, running a hand over his forehead guiltily.

"Q's throwing a party? We invited?"

"Football players, cheerleaders and gleeks," Santana confirmed. "So we going or what?"

Rachel had adamantly refused to attend. She had used every excuse under the sun but they were quickly shot down by the terrible duo. Puck had even pulled out the puppy dog eyes, which were infinitely more effective while he was sporting a bandage over his head, and it took ever bit of resolve she had in her to turn him down. Which might have been their plan as Santana launched into a long, and expletive filled, spiel about how they were friends now. And friends didn't let friends go to the house of the "bitch that stole my HBIC position!" alone.

Rachel never thought the day would come when she would be unable to say no to Santana Lopez. Now she had a hard time remembering why they didn't get along in the first place. They were scarily similar. Rachel was just happy that Santana was a little less focused than her or she would have been a goner years ago.

"A penny for your thoughts," the girl currently occupying her thoughts said, hopping up onto the kitchen counter beside Rachel. She had been holed up in the kitchen since shortly after arriving at this party. It had been just as horrible as she had imagined.

"I was just thinking that I was stupid to let you two talk me into this ridiculous party. The only other people to acknowledge me since we got here besides you and Noah were Artie and Brittany. But I'm pretty sure that Brittany thought I was someone else."

"Well you do look different in that dress," Puck chimed in. He leaned his hip against the counter the two girls were sitting on. His eyes raked over her body and he smirked. "You look hot, Berry."

She knew she was blushing but she somehow didn't care. "I do?"

"Yeah, you look amazing," he nodded. His smirk softened into a rarely seen real smile.

She wasn't so oblivious that she didn't notice that the smile tended to appear more when she was around. But she definitely didn't know how she felt about that. She was only just now getting used to this friend idea. She didn't know if she were ready to start thinking about more than friends. Or if he was even interested in that with her. After all, he was known to smile around Santana as well. Rachel sighed at the circuitous thoughts. This is why she avoided the subject altogether.

Santana leaned over and nudged her in the shoulder. Both girls were wearing spaghetti strap dresses and Quinn's house was slightly on the chilly side. Santana's literal cold shoulder brushed against hers causing her to let out a small giggle. She slapped a hand over her traitorous mouth, hoping that her weakness had not been discovered. Of course it had as both Puck and Santana were grinning at her with looks that clearly said they couldn't wait to try this knowledge out.

"You know they say who you're with on midnight on New Year's Eve is who you're meant to be with for the year," Rachel announced trying to distract them. Santana looked around the empty kitchen seemingly searching for something before she glanced at the clock. Without a word, she hopped off the counter and practically ran from the room. Rachel frowned before forcing a false smile on her face. "Guess we're not who she wanted to be with this year, huh?"

Puck gave her a soft look as if he could see right through her attempt at a joke. He rested a hand on her knee and squeezed gently. "Don't count Satan out quite yet. I think I know where she went."

Rachel only sighed. It was a stupid idea anyway. It's just that she had always believed in it as every New Year's Eve she was alone and she remained that way every year. This was the first year she was spending with honest to goodness friends. She had hoped that maybe she could break her pattern of loneliness. Then again she wasn't exactly as alone as she thought she was. She looked up to see a pair of warm, hazel eyes staring back at her. Puck was always there. He was either with her or on the sidelines but he was always there.

Sitting in the abandoned kitchen, Rachel couldn't help but keep staring into his eyes. They were the most fascinating thing she had ever seen. There were flecks of green, brown and amber in the orbs. He moved closer to her so that he was standing between her slightly opened legs. She was aware of the intimacy of the position but it felt right so she pushed that thought to the back of her mind.

"I'm happy you're here, Rachel," he whispered. His right hand moved further up her leg while he cupped her cheek in his left hand. His thumb was rubbing circles over her cheekbone. "This party would have probably sucked if it hadn't been for you and Santana."

"Then I'm happy I'm here too," Rachel smiled brightly. She placed her hand over his, lacing their fingers together and her free hand rested slightly above his hip. She leaned forward placing her forehead against his. In the den, she could hear the inebriated crowd announce that it was five minutes until midnight. If there was ever a time she was going to believe in old wives' tales, it was now. This is where she wanted to be for the rest of the year. And if she were really honest, possibly for the rest of their lives.

A flash of light drew both of their attention towards the returned Santana. She was waving a camera in one hand while the other rested on the handle of Artie's wheelchair. Brittany waved happily from where she sat perched on Artie's lap. Tina and Mike were all giggles while Sam looked worriedly around the room. Santana nodded in Rachel's direction before motioning with her head. This is where she wanted to be for the rest of the year. Just when Rachel thought she had figured Santana out, the girl went and changed it up.

"Anyone seen Quinn?"

It was only because he was still facing her, that Rachel saw the hesitation flash through Puck's eyes. She tightened her hold on his hand causing him to look up. He looked at her worriedly before mouthing, "Finn". Rachel felt her heart drop. She shook her head at his instantly sorry look. She wasn't hurting over Finn's quick forgiveness of the one who hurt him worse than her. No she was hurting for Sam.

"Forget about that for right now," Rachel assured Sam. "Let's just celebrate as friends." The blonde newcomer forced a smile on his face and nodded. Santana looped an arm around his waist, pulling him close. His smile was less forced as he slung an arm around her as well.

"To friends! To gleeks!" Mike cheered drunkenly earning more than a few chuckles from the gathered teens. The countdown officially began and they all chimed in together. As Rachel looked around the room, she wished on everything in her that she spent the next year surrounded by these people exactly as they were in this moment.

"Happy New Year!"

A pair of soft lips pressed against hers. But instead of confusion, she felt a shiver of pleasure. She knew this kiss and she missed the gentle pressure behind them. Her arms wound around his shoulders pulling him closer. As she returned the surprisingly chaste kiss, she felt Puck smile against her mouth pulling a matching smile from her.

"Happy New Year, Rachel Berry."

"Happy New Year, Noah Puckerman."

They separated to see the others in their own new year's embraces. Artie and Brittany were engaging in a decidedly less than chaste make out session. Mike and Tina were wrapped around one another and being their normally adorable selves. If Rachel wanted anything out of life besides Broadway, it was to find someone who accepted her and loved her as much as Mike loved Tina. Her eyes flickered briefly to the boy who was now standing besides her facing their friends before her gaze landed on her new best friend who was awkwardly patting a suddenly sullen Sam on the back. When she met Rachel and Puck's matching gazes she could barely repress the sigh of relief.

None of them had to ask what had caused the rapid change in the blonde's usually happy demeanor. Standing outside by the pool, in plain view of what they clearly assumed was the empty kitchen, were Finn and Quinn locked in a heated embrace.

"That bitch," Santana hissed under her breath.

"Hey, Chang. Does Q still have an X-Box in the game room?" Puck suddenly asked breaking the angry silence that had settled over the gathered glee members.

Mike blinked, his obvious inebriation fighting with the need to comfort his friend. "Uh, I think so."

"Artie, you bought the extra controllers, right?"

Artie reached under his chair and produced a bag with three extra controllers. "I bought COD and Halo. Take your pick."

"We were going to continue our New Year celebration with some manly bonding time with the X-Box at Chang's house but this is as good a place as any. Care to join us, Lips?"

"I guess I could do that."

"Aright then, gentlemen," Puck clapped his hands together. "Let us go kill some things!"

Rachel watched a soft smile and a snort of a laugh escape Sam's lips briefly. He followed the boys to the game room. Rachel could hear Artie and Puck teasing Mike almost excessively, earning more laughs from Sam. She glanced back to Finn and Quinn who were finally breaking apart. Finn ducked his head and looked down at her practically beaming with happiness. Quinn was also smiling until she caught the four angry girls glaring at her from the window. Finn looked up to see what had her attention and was surprised to see them but not ashamed. Nor did he seem sorry for being caught by his only recently ex-girlfriend.

Rachel knew three things for certain in her life. One, she was destined for great things. Two, Finn Hudson was definitely not the leading man she thought or even wanted him to be. Three, Noah Puckerman was everything she needed and more. And that's when she made up her mind. This year she was going to get over that she didn't get what she wanted and be happy that she almost always got what she needed.

"Let's go watch the boys kill things and laugh really loudly," Santana suggested, placing a hand in Rachel's.

"Especially when Noah has to shoot something," Rachel agreed. She pushed herself off the counter. "He has this vein in his forehead that throbs when he's angry but he doesn't want to yell because he thinks I'll cry."

Santana gave her a watery smile. "I think I'm rubbing off on you. I'm so happy!" Rachel rolled her eyes as Santana threw her arms around her. She could only giggle as Brittany did the same.

"Glirl hugs!" the blond shouted as she pulled Tina into the embrace.

"What in the name of Sylvester is a glirl?" Santana pulled away confused.

Brittany huffed. "Glee girls, San."

Tina and Rachel exchanged confused looks while Santana smiled patiently. "Glirl it is," Santana agreed with a shrug. "Glirl hugs!"

Rachel could definitely see herself with these guys for the rest of their lives.


	3. Chasing Pavements

**Summary:** A series of interconnected vignettes the life of Rachel Berry as she learns through the benefits of real love and friendship that there is so much more to life than just Broadway.

**Pairings: **Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Puckleberry romance, Brittany/Artie, Mike/Tina, mentions of Finn/Quinn

**Warnings:** This is contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer:** I forgot to put this in the first chapter, but I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did I wouldn't be writing fan fiction. I would be staring at Mark Salling, Harry Shum Jr., and Darren Criss all day long.

**Author's Note:** Eeep! I'm meant to have this up sooner. So sorry everyone. Thanks again to everyone that has supported this story. Means a lot! Hope this installment entertains as much as the others.

* * *

Chasing Pavements

Despite the amazing time during the break, Rachel couldn't help but feel that her new found friendships would be dissolved once school started again. Her past history with Finn and his ambivalence had jaded her. She was certain that once Santana and Brittany got back with their fellow Cheerios they would forget about late night AIM sessions with Rachel and Tina. Or the ultimate Sing Star showdown where Rachel was not the winner (to the surprise of everyone, Mike was) but she really didn't care. She had fun with friends and she knew that once school started those friends would be gone. This is why she couldn't help the look of utter disbelief written across her face as she finally stepped into her kitchen after having a late start to her morning only to find Santana, Puck and Sam having breakfast with her fathers.

"Pay up, Puckerman!" Santana smacked Puck on the shoulder once her three friends had stopped eating and talking long enough to notice her. "I told you she'd pull the Sally Field face."

"The what?" Rachel was still confused.

"The 'you like me? You really like me?' face," Sam supplied helpfully around a mouth full of toast. "Santana bet that you'd be surprised that we were here this morning. Puck thought you'd be smart enough to know that we're your friends. And I seriously love your dads."

Rachel could only blink at the onslaught of information coming at her. She was trying to process that the three of them were in her kitchen. Santana was still smugly holding her hand out for her money. Sam was happily tearing into his breakfast. And Puck was torn between looking disappointed in her lack of faith in him and angry that he actually had to pay Santana. He handed her all the bills in his wallet before pouting in Rachel's direction. She went to stand behind him and draped her arms around his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Noah."

He leaned his head back and smiled up at her. "'s cool, babe. Just know you're buying me lunch for like the rest of the week because Satan over here just took all my money."

"I'll spare you the obviously much needed but likely to be ignored lecture on the dangers of underage betting and just say that of course I'll buy you lunch," Rachel agreed. She pretended she didn't notice Sam, Santana and her fathers exchanging knowing looks. She just decided to ignore them for the time being and focus on how well her arms fit around his shoulders. How perfect his head felt resting back against her stomach. How her body seemed naturally inclined to respond to his.

"Well, if you two are done making moon eyes at each other, we better get going," Santana announced with a mask of pure innocence on her face. "I promised Brittany I'd meet her before school so I could show her where all her classes were."

During the break Rachel had learned that Santana wasn't as hard as she wanted people to believe she was. She definitely held a soft spot when it came to the sweet but painfully slow Brittany. Santana had fielded with patience and respect phone calls from Brittany that would have sent even a nun screaming in the opposite direction. This was evidenced by the New Year's Day stakeout at Brittany's house to ensure that her cat was in fact not reading her diary and stealing her socks. There were definitely layers to Santana and Rachel was pleased that she would be allowed to continue seeing how deep they went.

She snapped out of her thoughts as Puck shifted out of her loose embrace to help Sam clear the table. Santana handed her a bag that she found out contained her own breakfast to go before walking outside to presumably talk to Brittany who was calling. As the cheerleader headed out the door, she vaguely heard her say something about staying out of the sewer system. Her fathers remained at the table smiling in sheer joy at their baby girl.

"What?" she asked while trying to stop a smile of her own.

"Your friends are nice," Hiram said. "It's especially nice to see Noah again after so long. It's good that you two are back together. You seemed happier during the week you were dating."

Rachel flushed. "We are not back together. Noah is just a friend, daddy. That's all."

"A friend you've been spending a lot of time with lately," Leroy pointed out knowingly.

"Dad!" she actually whined, stomping her foot slightly. She glanced over her shoulder to see that Sam and Puck were still occupied with splashing water from the dishes at one another and were oblivious to the conversation happening in the other room. "For the last time, Noah is just a friend. He's not interested in anything more than that."

"Whatever you say, princess," Hiram grinned. She didn't have an opportunity to further correct them as Sam and Puck chose this moment to exit the kitchen. Both boys were smirking and soaking wet. Hiram shook his head but nodded in their direction. "Boys, don't be strangers. You're more than welcome in this house."

"We'll definitely take you up on that, Mr. Berry," Sam nodded with a wide smile.

"Noah, how's your head feeling?"

"Much better, Dr. Berry. Thanks for seeing me that day. ERs really suck."

"Any time, Noah," Leroy chuckled. "Just try not to make it a habit."

"Totally not a problem. I don't plan on seeing the inside of an ER for quite some time," Puck grinned. "Come on, Rach. I know Satan's probably climbing the walls now. And me and Sam got practice."

Rachel simply nodded and headed towards the front door. After she pulled on her coat, she reached for her bag only to see it headed out the door under Puck's arm. She heard one of her fathers clear their throat and even Sam had to duck his head to hide the growing smirk on his face. Honestly, she was really going to have a talk with that boy. If she was going to try to keep him in the just a friend role, then he was really going to have to stop being the perfect boyfriend!

School with friends, and a boy-friend, was a much different experience than her previous high school experience. It was as if the moment shared on New Year's Eve between the eight teenagers had bonded them together. She almost wasn't surprised to find Tina waiting for her at her locker that morning. They had most of their classes together this semester and promised to sit with each other as much as possible. When they rounded the corner that would lead them to first period they found themselves flanked by Santana and Brittany. The two making it clear that Rachel and Tina were not to be messed with.

Lunch was a similarly new experience for Rachel. She had gotten accustomed to sitting by herself at lunch with a good book and her iPod as company. Now she had Brittany playing with her hair, Santana and Tina having deep discussions over nail polish colors and brands, Puck and Artie arguing over the greatest guitar legends and Sam and Mike discussing video games and their latest pick in fantasy football. Not once did she miss her book.

Having friends in school also helped Rachel get in touch with her previously unknown well of confidence when it came to Finn Hudson. Midway through the lunch period, Finn materialized in front of their table wearing a look that was a cross between constipated monkey (which meant he was trying to think) and irrationally jealous. She supposed that had to do with the fact that her head was now on Sam's shoulder as Brittany had moved onto all the different non Bieber-like hairstyles he could be sporting. Rachel wanted to be flattered that Finn was jealous but the truth was she was over it. She was over him.

"Rach, can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure," she replied, never lifting her head from Sam's shoulder.

Finn's eyes flickered between the seven other teens that were not trying to hide their level of interest in the conversation. "Alone?"

At this Rachel did lift her head to glance at her friends and then back to her ex-boyfriend. "I don't think that will be necessary. I'm perfectly fine with them hearing what you have to say."

"Rach, please?" he gave her a soft look that used to have her melting. Now she was just annoyed. "I want to talk about what you saw on Saturday."

"What I saw on Saturday means nothing to me," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "We're not together anymore. You made that painfully clear when you left me at the Christmas tree lot."

"You did what?" Santana barked. "Midget, why am I just now hearing about this? Why was this not brought to my attention like the second it fucking happened?"

"Because she thought you hated her the second it fucking happened," Puck retorted, rolling his eyes.

Santana paused, cocking her head to the side. "Oh yeah, there was that."

Finn blinked at Santana's heated defense. "You guys are like friends now?"

"Yeah, Hudson," Santana retorted. "We're like friends now. And that means we're not about to let Rachel fall back into your never ending cycle of suck. So whatever lame tired lines you were going to try to run to get her back, save it for someone else. Cuz it's not gonna work here."

Rachel smiled at the look of utter confusion on his face. "What she said," she added. "It's over Finn."

"That means you can go," Artie supplied helpfully. "So anyone got any ideas for glee this week?"

Puck smirked. "I got something I've been working on." Rachel's interest was automatically peaked. His smirk grew wider at her look. "Don't start, Berry. You'll find out on Thursday."

Rachel narrowed her eyes but put it to the side now. She slipped back into her previous conservation with Sam and Brittany, who was still trying to convince Sam that shorter hair, would lead to less emphasis on his "freakishly large guppy mouth". She was aware of Fin standing in the background by their table watching her with that sad, longing in his eye. She pushed any feelings of guilt or sadness away. While she would always care about Finn, she was no longer interested in being jerked around. She had far more pressing concerns right now. Like what Puck was planning for glee practice that week.

She was riding a high after her lunch period confrontation with Finn. The born from constant disappointment pessimist in her knew that it was bound to all come crashing down around her. She just wasn't it expecting it to be so soon. The class after lunch was the one period of the day she didn't have any of her newfound BFFs in class. The only gleek in her last period History class was Quinn Fabray. And the gods must have decided that sitting her next to the head Cheerio was their way of reminding her where she sat on the social totem pole. Rachel felt like she was about to get shot down once more. She was again pleasantly surprised.

"Rachel, can I talk to you for a minute?" Quinn asked, almost hesitantly after class was over. Rachel stopped midway through packing her books away at the usage of her real name and not an insulting moniker. "I know you guys all saw what happened between me and Finn on New Years' and I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I'm the person you should be apologizing to."

Quinn smiled sadly. "Yes, you are. I don't have any right to even try speaking to Sam right now. I know that. But I do have to apologize to you. I'm sorry, Rachel. I shouldn't have kissed Finn but I got caught up in the memories of what we were."

"He does have that effect on women."

The blonde nodded and smiled a little more. "Yes, he does. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry that we hurt you."

Rachel found herself smiling and it wasn't the usual forced smile she used to put on every day. This was a genuine smile. "Quinn, I really am over him. Finn and I are too different. And it's not fair for either of us to have to change in order to fit together. We both deserve more than that. But I accept your apology even though it's truly unnecessary."

Quinn nodded tearfully. "Thank you, Rachel. That really does mean a lot to me. I know that I haven't always been the nicest to you and for that I'm truly sorry." She glanced at something over Rachel's shoulder and her smile got a little sadder if possible. "Take care of him for me?"

"Sam?"

"Him too."

With that Quinn walked away. Rachel didn't have long to wonder about who Quinn meant as Puck entered the now empty classroom. He let Quinn pass by with a slightly worried look on his face. He leaned against Rachel's desk as she finished packing her bag.

"Is Q alright?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes, she just wanted to apologize for kissing Finn. She said she still had feelings for him and I think that they might get back together." Suddenly Rachel winced. If there was anyone besides Sam that probably didn't want to hear about the Fuinn reunion it would be the boy in front of her. Puck and Quinn had been through just as much drama, if not more. "I'm so sorry, Noah. I didn't stop to think about you and Quinn and…"

"And I'm over all of it, Rach. Me and Q are always going to be something to each other. She's Beth's mother and possibly a friend. But that's it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm all about moving on. New Year, fresh start. You know?"

"I think I'm starting to," she nodded, coming to a decision. "Did I tell you what my resolution was for the New Year?"

"No. I don't think you did."

"This year, I'm going to stop chasing after everything I thought I wanted and finally accept the things I need," she whispered before placing a meaningful kiss on his cheek. Judging by the hand that wrapped around hers as they walked down the hall, the message had been received. Now there was only one thing she needed to make her day complete.

"Don't even think about asking what song I'm singing, Rach. I know how your crazy brain works," Puck retorted glancing down at her. "You'll find out on Thursday."

Rachel narrowed her eyes but couldn't fight back the smile as he continued to hold her hand. In the hallway, in plain sight of everyone else. He wasn't ashamed of her. He didn't like in spite of her crazy. He liked her with the crazy. She squeezed his hand. They might just make it this time. The pessimistic side of her began whispering how those thoughts usually led to tears, heartbreak and freezing on the outskirts of town. But she hushed it. This time they were the only people in their relationship. There was nothing to keep this from working out.

Right?


	4. Leaping to Conclusions

**Summary:** The journey of one Rachel Barbra Berry as she learns that there is more to life than just dreams of Broadway and life outside of Lima thanks to a few of her friends.

**Pairings:** Puck/Rachel/Santana friendship, Puckleberry romance, Brittany/Artie, Mike/Tina, hints of Finn/Quinn and Sam/Santana

**Warnings:** This is contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons. This chapter also contains some Finn and Schuster bashing (although is it bashing when it's just telling the truth?) and some very questionable friendship techniques from Mercedes and Kurt.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did there would be many more songs featuring Santana and Puck. And Tina would actually have a story line.

**Author's Note:** Sorry again for the delay with this chapter. But it's a lot longer than normal. I'm actually getting an idea for an arc in my head so the installments might start getting longer for awhile. So hopefully this chapter is enjoyed! Thanks again to my lovely reviewers. Reviews make me happy. Thanks again!

* * *

Leaping to Conclusions At the Speed of Light

Rachel was almost positive that she did something seriously wrong in a past life. That was the only explanation for how a girls only mall trip with Quinn, Santana and Tina had turned into the awkward and potentially humiliating dining experience from hell with Mercedes and Kurt. It all started Tuesday afternoon when Santana roped her into going out with them since she "totally fucking ditched us at lunch" in order to "make out with your hot ass secret boyfriend in his truck." Upon arriving at the mall, they had run into Mercedes and Kurt who had invited themselves to join in. Soon after their addition to the group, Tina had left saying that she was meeting Mike at his house for dinner. Sam called Quinn during this time and said that he was ready to talk about what happened on New Years. Rachel didn't miss the look that crossed Santana's face as Quinn skipped off.

This left her sitting with Santana, Kurt and Mercedes. The tension was so thick it was almost visible and Rachel wished on everything in her that Puck was there. No, it wouldn't make anything less awkward but at least he'd be there. Still she had Santana and for that she was grateful. That is until the cheerleader's phone rang and she ran off saying that it was Brittany. And then there were none.

It wasn't that she disliked either Kurt or Mercedes but she had been the brunt of their jokes and nasty comments for too long to suddenly believe that they were all just going to be friends. Later, she would wonder why it was easier for her to believe Puck and Santana than Mercedes and Kurt. For now, she was content to stare at her phone wishing for it to ring with an escape for her as well. However, it remained unpleasantly silent.

"So Rachel, any comment on the return of Puckleberry?" Mercedes asked, suddenly. Rachel looked up at her with wary eyes. "I heard one of the Cheerios say that she caught you two making out in his truck."

Rachel's face flushed red even as she mentally cursed Puck. She told him that his truck was not the most discrete place for their impromptu make out session. Although in his defense he was just as content to continue what had started as an innocent peck on the lips in the hallway in plain sight of everyone. It was Rachel who wanted a change in venue.

"I think the silence is the answer," Kurt practically gushed. "So you and Puckerman are back on? That's interesting."

"Why is that so interesting?" Rachel asked, smoothing back her hair.

"We just thought you'd still be chasing after Finn. Didn't think you'd give up so easily, especially for someone like Puck."

Her eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Please, Rachel. I know you," Kurt scoffed. "You're candy, flowers and matching kitty calendars. You really think any of that is Noah Puckerman? You really think he's forever? You're more naïve than I thought."

"Puck is a player, Rachel. The boy has been through pretty much all of the Cheerios, the glee girls except Tina, and pretty much all of the desperate housewives of Lima. You really think he's going to settle down?"

"All Santana has to do is bat those pretty little eyes of hers and he's going to come running. Especially since she'll give up something you're not ready to give up."

Rachel clenched her jaw. "And that is?"

"Sex. Hello, I live with Finn, remember? He told me about you waiting to have sex. You really think Puck is going to stick around waiting for something he can get from Santana any time and if the stories are to be believed, any place?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because we're concerned, sweetie," Kurt assured her. "You tend to throw yourself at the first thing to show you a scrap of affection. Remember, Puck used to throw slushies at you. Santana is the sole reason why the majority of the school feels the need to call your gender into question on a daily basis. Can you really trust them after all that? I can't tell if that makes you a better person or just really, really delusional."

Rachel turned her head to the side and tried to block out what they were saying. But the words were slowly eroding the mental walls she had built to block out these exact same thoughts she had been thinking about since that first Sunday. It was true that they had both apologized in some capacity but really it was a bit much to believe that they were suddenly all friends. And they raised another point. She knew she wasn't nearly ready to consider sex but Puck was a self proclaimed 'sex shark'. How long would he wait until he could get it from someone else? How long would Santana wait for Puck to get bored before she reminded him of what they once had? Of what they probably still had…

"Oh no," Mercedes whispered loudly enough for Rachel to hear. She looked up to see that the pair was staring at something just below Rachel's shoulder. She turned around to see Puck and Santana standing on the lower level. Puck had an arm wrapped around Santana's shoulder. The cheerleader was resting her head against his chest. The pose spoke of the level of familiarity and intimacy between them. She had seen them in poses similar to this during the past few weeks but she had let it go because they were all friends. But with the walls down, she couldn't help but see all the things she had ignored.

"If you will excuse me for a moment," Rachel said, dully. There was a buzzing sound in her ears as she rose from her seat and walked on autopilot to the escalator that would lead her to where her soon to be ex-boyfriend (again) and ex-friend were standing. As she finally reached them she could hear them murmuring to one another.

"Well just remember, I had you first," Santana cooed, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

"You were my first," Puck confirmed with a chuckle. "And despite it all, I keep coming back to you. What's that say about me?"

"That you have good taste!" Santana laughed pushing his chest. He stumbled slightly and Santana looked up to see Rachel standing behind them. "Rach! You're done with the Gossip Girls already? We were just about to liberate you. How'd you get free? You didn't like threaten Kurt's Gucci again, did you?"

"Or talk smack about Lady Goo Goo."

"It's Gaga, moron," Santana retorted.

Rachel blinked. They were really going to act like she didn't just hear what she heard? Did they really think that she was that stupid? Of course, they did.

"This doesn't look like Brittany," Rachel finally said.

Puck narrowed his eyes, taking in the flat tone and distant behavior. "Babe, is everything okay?"

"No, Puck," she hissed in his direction. He actually flinched at the use of his nickname. He once told her that he liked it when she called him Noah. So she knew that calling him Puck hurt. Good. "Everything is not okay. Santana was your first and you'll always come back to her? I was so stupid to trust you."

"Rachel, what the hell are you talking about?" Santana asked, confusion written on her face.

"I'm talking about the fact that you said you were going to meet Brittany. This clearly is not Brittany! You lied to me and snuck off to meet with the guy that is supposed to be my boyfriend. And the fact that you're having a conversation about how you'll always come back to each other."

"Look, Berry. I don't know what kind of nonsense that Beyonce and Wheezy were filling your head with but I think you need to slow your roll," Santana retorted. She glanced up at Puck who was unusually silent and then back to Rachel. "There is an explanation for everything."

"Save it." This time it was Puck who spoke. "Rachel has clearly decided that she has all the answers here. So there's nothing left for us to say." He met Rachel's eyes for the first time and she was stunned by the hurt reflected in his eyes. "Seriously, Rachel. I thought you were fucking smarter than that. I thought we were stronger than this. I guess I was wrong."

Rachel watched as he walked away from her. A niggling thought in the back of her mind reminded her of the last time she watched him walk away from her with the feeling that she needed to call him back. But much like that time on the bleachers she let him walk away.

Santana shook her head. "Not that it even matters to you at this point but he was talking about how I was his first friend," she growled. "He's my fucking friend, Berry. But you know that already. I don't know where this sudden bitch act is coming from but it's not cute. I'm the bitch in this relationship. Get it straight."

With that, she turned on her heels and stalked away in the direction Puck had stormed off. Rachel felt like she was rooted to the spot. If she were to believe Santana, the conversation that she overheard made perfect sense. Even though they weren't always friends, Rachel had grown up around Puck and Santana. They had always had a volatile but close relationship. Despite their many failed hookups and public falling outs, Puck and Santana had maintained their friendship. Still, that didn't explain why Puck was at the mall with Santana when the other girl had claimed she was meeting up with Brittany. Brittany who was… currently strolling towards her with a shopping bag from the Build-a-Bear store in her hands.

"Rachel!" Brittany grinned, giving her a tight hug. "Santana said we were meeting you later because you were stuck with Kurt and Mercedes."

"I finished with them. What are you doing here?"

"Artie's dad had an emergency so he picked Artie up early. Puck was still at school and I asked him for a ride so I could meet you guys. But I forgot where were supposed to be meeting and I called Santana."

Rachel closed her eyes, feeling remorse and shame flooding her system. "Noah gave you a ride?"

"Yeah, they said they were going to wait for me while I went in the store. Puck said that he felt like his balls were falling off when he went in there." Her eyes widened as she remembered something. She rooted around the bag and finally pulled out a roll of tape. "I got this so he could make sure they don't fall off. I'm sure that you want them intact."

Rachel took the offered tape and laughed which of course soon turned into tears. She spent the next ten minutes tearfully explaining to Brittany everything that had occurred that afternoon. The normally slow blonde looked unusually insightful as she sat back on the bench they had ended up on and smiled.

"It'll be okay, Rachel. San and Puck are just hurt right now but they care about you lots. Especially Puck. He's always talking about how you're pretty and smart and really, really nice. I think he loves you," she whispered conspiratorially. "They'll forgive you."

"They shouldn't," Rachel sighed. "I can't believe I didn't even bother to listen to them. I'm such a jerk."

Brittany shrugged. "It happens."

She was about to continue when her phone beeped. "Oh, it's from San. She said to make sure that I got you and whatever magical unicorn I bought this time and meet her in the front. She's ready to leave."

Rachel shook her head. "You go ahead. I think I'm going to stay a little while longer. I need some time to clear my head."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Tell Santana thank you for the offer."

Brittany's brow furrowed before she wrapped the smaller girl in another hug. This embrace was much more comforting and reassuring than the other. It almost brought a fresh set of tears to her eyes.

"Trust me, Rach. Everything is going to be okay. Puckleberries are so much better when they're mixed with pezberries too. You'll see."

Rachel could only nod. Leave it to Brittany to simplify everything. Still, she let the blonde go and sat back on the bench. She wasn't ready to face Santana or Puck quite yet. She also wasn't quite ready to face her fathers who would no doubt be less than pleased that she jumped to such terrible conclusions about the first real friends she had in awhile. So she sat and waited until she could find the motivation to get up to take the bus home.

Two hours later, she was still seated on the bench when another thought occurred to her. Her purse, with all her money and bus pass, was in Santana's car. There was no way she was getting home without getting a ride from someone. And then almost as if summoned, said bag was thrown onto her lap by the person grumpily throwing herself down on the seat next to her.

Rachel could only blink in surprise at one of the people she had been trying to avoid but couldn't help but be happy was here with her. She tried to say something profound that spoke about how sorry she was. But all that came out was… "You changed your clothes."

Santana snorted. "Yeah, it happens sometimes when I go home." She crossed her arms over her chest and staring out at the crowd of shoppers. "I was home, Berry. I was sitting in my room and I was comfortable. And all I kept thinking about was your stubborn midget ass trying to walk home from the mall because your bag was in my car. At first I didn't give a shit but then I started thinking about how you dress like a pedophile's wet dream. No matter how pissed I am with you right now, I didn't want any old dudes perving on you."

Rachel clutched the bag to her chest. "Thank you," she whispered. "Santana, I'm so…"

"Let me guess… Sorry?" her friend finished for her with a slight smirk. "Yeah, I know." She shrugged, continuing to people watch. "Like I said, I figured it had something to do with those two. So no worries."

"You're forgiving me?"

"Sure. I'm more than likely going to fuck up bigger than this somewhere down the line. Consider this a 'get out of trouble free' card."

"Santana."

"Yes?"

"I'm going to hug you now."

"Really? Hugs are for special occasions, Berry! Like holidays and maybe birthdays, not mine, but possibly yours."

"My arms are up."

"Ugh, Christ! Okay! But this is totally good for two of those cards!"

"That's fine," Rachel agreed. And for all her whining and complaining, Rachel found that Santana was just as into the hug as she was.

Santana pulled away with an exaggerated look of disgust. "Well, now that the touchy feely crap is out the way. We have two further points to discuss before we go back to yours and see what the dads have cooked for us."

Rachel just smiled at Santana's natural inclusion into her household. "And those points are?"

"One, do not, under any circumstances, try to contact Puck tonight. I know you're thinking about it. Trust me and I know that might be a stretch for you, but just leave him alone until tomorrow. Puck is a tricky little emotional retard but he'll be much easier to talk with tomorrow."

Even though every part of her protested the idea, Rachel had to admit that Santana had a point. She knew Puck better than Rachel did, for now. And after this afternoon's social faux pas, it was in her best interest to just believe the cheerleader. So she nodded and indicated that Santana should get on with point number two.

"I'm going to need you to do me a solid in the morning."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "I'm so not going to like this, am I?"

"Possibly. But you owe me."

* * *

The next morning found Rachel approaching Quinn Fabray's locker. Though the girl had apologized to her earlier that week, she was still hesitant about talking to her. But Santana was right. Rachel owed her. Big. So she was off to do her best friend's bidding and just be happy that she still had a best friend.

"Good morning, Quinn. How are you feeling?"

Quinn smiled at Rachel and shook her head. "How bad did you screw up yesterday to let San talk you into this?"

"Was it really that obvious? Wait… how did you know about that? Oh no, does everyone know?"

"You spazzed on Puck and San in the crowded mall after school in plain view of Mercedes and Kurt," Quinn replied patiently. "Everyone knows. And of course, it's on Jacob's Blog. Do not be surprised if he steps up his creepy game since he thinks you and Puck aren't together."

"Oh, great. I knew there was a reason I didn't want to get out of bed this morning."

Quinn bumped her with her shoulder and stood next to her against lockers. "As for the reason you came over here. I talked to Sam yesterday. And it was nice. But we both agreed that right now we're not good for each other. I don't know if I want Finn or not, but I do know that it's not fair to Sam to keep him hanging around. Besides, from the look in his eye, he's not exactly sitting around waiting for me to come back."

Rachel lifted her gaze from her shoes. "So you do know then?"

"I didn't miss the look yesterday either. She likes him. He likes her. I think it'll take them months to figure it out but when they do… they could be great."

Rachel was beginning to formulate a theory that sometime during the break, most of the glee club was abducted and replaced with replicas. That had to be it because there was just no other way to explain the sudden changes in attitude. Well there was the less likely idea that they were all just finally growing up but Rachel liked her body snatchers idea better. Stupid Sam and his Syfy movie kick.

"You and Puck will be great too," Quinn added, dragging her out of her thoughts. "He really likes you. He's different when he's with you. He's more like the real him. Most people see the badass because that's what he wants us to see. But you get to see the other side too. He's got a lot of hang-ups and insecurities that I don't think even he knows about but he's a great guy. You've got more of him than any of us ever had," Quinn held her gaze. "Don't break him. Okay?"

She wondered if Puck was even aware of how much Quinn and Santana cared about him. She knew that there would always be tension between Quinn and Puck due to Beth but Quinn was able to put that aside for what she thought was best for Puck.

Rachel smiled. "I won't."

Quinn nodded and looked down the hallway. Her eyes narrowed as she took in something. "Here's your chance to make it up. Don't screw this one up, Rachel. Please."

Rachel leaned forward to see that Puck was standing at his own locker, pulling his books for the day out and trying to ignore his unwelcome companion. A Cheerio was leaning further into his personal space than was necessary. Rachel growled under her breath and stormed over to the pair. Puck's eyes widened as he caught sight of her and immediately his face shut down. She knew he was probably expecting a repeat of yesterday but she was prepared for that as well. She slid in between her boyfriend and the cheerleader.

"Uh, excuse me, we were talking."

"Yeah, I could see that. But you're done now. I need to talk to my boyfriend now."

The cheerleader looked confused. "But the blog said you guys weren't together."

"Jacob has been known to be horribly wrong on several occasions," Rachel replied, primly. "This would be one of them. Noah and I are definitely together." She paused, taking a deep breath, and turned to face him. "Aren't we?"

For several moments, they were locked in that position. His face was blank and for once she couldn't read his eyes. Just as she was about to give up hope, his gaze softened and the corners of his mouth lifted.

"Yeah," he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. A hand lifted to cup her cheek. "We're together, babe."

A wide smile curved her face at the term of endearment. She was dimly aware of the forgotten Cheerio flouncing off but could only focus on the boy in front of her. "Noah, I'm so sorry about yesterday."

"I know. A little birdie told me."

Rachel rolled her eyes. Of course. Santana only told Rachel not to communicate with Puck. She didn't say anything about her talking with Puck.

"Dude, what the hell is this?"

"And the moment no one was waiting for," Puck muttered, pulling away from Rachel slightly to face his former best friend. Rachel glanced up at Finn and sighed in annoyance. Every time she was trying to enjoy some time with the people that really cared about her, he showed up.

"What exactly is the problem, Finn?"

"So you're dating Puck now?" Finn retorted. "He's the reason we broke up!"

"No, you're the reason we broke up. You lied to me about Santana. I told you the truth about Puck and you dumped me. And then you get Quinn to cheat on Sam. Hypocrisy thy name is Finn."

"Huh?"

"Too many big words," Puck chided Rachel. "Look, let me dumb it down for you. Me and Rachel are together. You and Rachel are not. I got the girl. You don't. The end."

"Why do you always have to go after the girls I like?"

Puck shrugged. "Despite being slow as all hell, you have really good taste in chicks."

Rachel couldn't help but giggle at the flippant comment. This turned out to be the wrong reaction as Finn lunged forward and pushed Puck hard up against the lockers. She threw Puck a warning look. Even if it was self defense, he couldn't afford to get caught fighting on school grounds. It wouldn't look good at his probation hearing. Although she was rethinking this as Finn landed a lucky punch to Puck's face.

"What's going on here?"

She had never been more grateful to hear Mr. Schue's voice than in that moment. Within seconds, he was pulling Finn off of Puck. Rachel was by his side a moment later. She put a hand on his bruised cheek which was starting to swell. Other than that he appeared unharmed, which was fortunate for Finn. Because Sam and Santana were not on probation and both were practically glowing with anger as they watched from down the hall. Rachel gave them a nod that had both backing down. She saw them joining Quinn, who was also watching the scene with a distant look in her eye.

"You okay?"

"I'm a badass, babe," Puck grinned. "It's going to take a lot more than that pansy ass shove to hurt me."

Rachel huffed. "He could have made you hit your head. You're more susceptible to head injuries in the weeks following a concussion. Any further blows to your head could lead to irreversible brain damage and horrible complications, including paralysis and death!"

Puck raised an eyebrow. "Rachel, you're crazy and that's awesome but 'm fine."

She continued her mental assessment of him. No slurred words, no distorted pupils and an ever present lazy smirk pulling at his lips. Yeah, he was fine. There was no need to arrange for Finn to find his way to the not so abandoned crack house. She glanced in that direction in time see Mr. Schue sent Finn on his way before turning to the couple still leaning against the lockers.

"Puck, what happened?"

"Finn attacked me. That's what happened," Puck retorted. "Dude has serious aggression issues that he needs to work on."

"What did you say to him to provoke that response?"

Rachel didn't try to stop the eye roll his question prompted. What a surprise! Mr. Schue continues to think that Finn can do no wrong.

"Noah didn't do anything to Finn. We were talking and he came up to us."

Their teacher's gaze flickered between the couple and a look of understanding and then pity flashed through them. Rachel definitely wasn't stupid enough to think that he was feeling bad for them. So with a great sigh, she followed him as he pulled them into an empty classroom.

"You two are together, now?"

"Mr. Schue, you really need to start keeping up with the school gossip," Puck drawled. "Yeah, Rach and I are together. So what?"

"That's good. I was just concerned about how the rest of the glee club was going to respond to this." The two students stared blankly in his direction. "We all got used to Rachel and Finn being together. The new relationship between you two might cause some unneeded tension."

"Funny, the only people that seemed to have a problem with it are Mercedes, Kurt and Finn. Kurt doesn't count because he's not here. Mercedes doesn't count because… well I'm tired of caring what she thinks when it's beyond obvious she could care less what I think or feel. And Finn doesn't count because he dumped me. Not the other way around."

Puck squeezed her hand lightly and barely hid a smirk. Will caught the slight communication and frowned.

"I thought that you were trying to win back Finn," Mr. Schue tried. "I really don't think that the club can survive anymore tension and drama."

"Good thing that our relationship has nothing to do with Finn or anyone else in glee but the two of us. You know you have this really convenient habit of dropping in and out of our lives. Mr. Schue. You're always preaching to us about being a family and caring about each other but you really only seem to walk the walk with a certain few of us. Now all of a sudden you care about the well being of the club?"

"Rachel…"

"I don't really want to hear it, Mr. Schue. I have a father. Two actually and they approve of my relationship with Noah. That's all that matters."

Rachel took a deep breath. It wasn't until she started speaking that she realized all the things she wanted to say to their teacher. She had tried for so long to be whatever it was that he wanted her to be to accept her. The closest she had ever come was while she was dating Finn and she realized that had more to do with keeping his favorite happy than Mr. Schue accepting her. He was so painfully oblivious to everything that happened in that club.

"Mr. Schue, suffice to say that you're a hypocrite too. You're always saying that this is a place to shine and to be ourselves. But you never want me to be myself, quite the opposite really, and you don't let anyone else shine unless you think it'll impress Ms. Pillsbury."

"Ouch," Puck mumbled.

"You ignore the obvious talents of everyone in this club and I'm guilty of that as well. But it's a new year and I'm turning over a new leaf. I suggest you do the same."

With that said she picked up her bag and tugged Puck out the room with her. They didn't get far as Puck whirled her around to face him. Her arms reflexively wound around his neck as he pulled her flush against his body. She heard a number of students comment as they passed the couple but neither Puck nor Rachel cared.

"That was hot."

"It was, wasn't it?" she smirked. She pressed a kiss to the side of his neck, delighting in the soft moan he made. He arched an eyebrow.

"You know," he smiled. "I'm starting to think that I'm a bad influence on you," he kissed the tip of her nose.

"On the contrary," she replied, looking him in the eye seriously. "I think you're a very good influence on me. I think I definitely have a lot more to learn from you, Mr. Puckerman."

"Ahem, if you two are done fornicating all over the hallways," Sam said, with a wide grin. "I think it's time for class."

Puck rolled his eyes and placed one last lingering kiss against Rachel's lips. He pulled away from her and walked beside Sam, elbowing the blond in the stomach. "Dude, who the hell taught you the word fornicating?"

"It's on that word of the day calendar Mike got me for Christmas. I'm really concerned about this calendar. Yesterday the word was necrophilia. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to think about that one," Sam shook his head. "Although it was better than the pack of tennis balls someone who shall remain 'hawked got me."

"Now you can see how many balls you can fit in that mouth of yours!" Puck choked out around a laugh. Sam huffed before punching his friend on the arm.

Santana looped an arm through Rachel's as the two girls followed the boys to their class. Rachel cast a glance at Santana who was laughing at Puck and Sam. The cheerleader caught her gaze and rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, mimicking the pair. Rachel giggled and squeezed Santana's arm. Despite a few bumps in the road, she was fairly certain that she had this friends and boyfriend thing figured out. It was bound to be smooth sailing now.

Of course, as the pessimist that lived inside of her loved to remind her, that's usually when everything goes straight to hell in a hand basket. And, for the first time in awhile the pessimist was actually right.

* * *

*Does that count as a cliff hanger? Hmm... Let me know what you think!


	5. Murphy's Law

**Summary:** The journey of Rachel Barbra Berry as she learns that there is more to life than just dreams of Broadway and life outside of Lima thanks to the love and friendships of her fellow gleeks.

**Pairings:** Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, as requested beginnings of Faberry friendship, Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, hints of Sam/Santana

**Warnings:** This is contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons. More Finn bashing ahead. Sorry, I'm just really annoyed with his character as of late.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did there would be many more songs featuring Santana, Puck and Artie. There would also be a lot more Mike and a lot less Fuinn.

**Author's Note:** Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews! I was going through a bit of a rough spot this week and the reviews made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. So warm and fuzzy that I was motivated to update a lot sooner. This one is not as long as the previous one but there's a reason for that. Please note that my medical knowledge comes from an hour of reading about comas and concussions on Wikipedia. Meaning, don't be too harsh when that part comes up. That being said, please enjoy! And let me know what you think.

* * *

Murphy's Law

Thursday couldn't come soon enough for Rachel. Despite the decidedly mixed reactions she and Puck had received from some of the glee club members, Rachel was still excited about practice that afternoon. She told herself that she was just happy to finally start preparing for Regionals and that she was in no way this ecstatic because Puck was still going to sing whatever song he had planned. He said that their relationship wouldn't change the message of song… whatever that meant. Santana had giggled revealing that she was in on this as well. And as Rachel was still walking on eggshells after Tuesday's drama, she decided to take it at face value and pester the cheerleader for information. She was just as tight lipped as Puck. Her curiosity was beyond peaked and she was dying to see this performance.

Despite this, she tried to tone down her "crazy" as Puck affectionately referred to her intensely focused energies. She had taken some of what Mr. Schuster said to heart. She didn't want to cause tension within the club and the dissolution of her relationship with Finn and subsequent taking up with Puck would surely lead to tension if the reactions from Mercedes and Mr. Schue were anything to go by. One of these days she would learn to stop forming opinions about these people without taking into consideration that they were her friends now.

As soon as she walked into glee that afternoon there was a round of applause. She stopped short and blinked as Tina, Artie, Mike, Brittany, Sam and Quinn continued to give her a standing ovation. A smirking Santana was sitting next to Puck who just shook his head in response to her obvious confusion.

"They did the same thing to me when I walked in," Puck grumbled as Rachel made her way to the pair. "I think they're getting weirder. Wasn't sure it was possible…. But there they are."

"It's because everyone's favorite power couple is back together," Tina replied with a grin. "Puckleberry is almost as epic as Tike."

"I thought we were going with Chang-Squared," Mike complained.

"That makes us sound related," Tina hissed in return.

"Yeah and Tike makes us sound like toddlers. That's more than a little creepy."

"And it's pedophilia," Sam chimed, earning several confused looks. "Damn pervy Word of the Day calendar."

"Yeah, Sam, blame the calendar for your inner perv coming to the surface," Artie retorted with a grin. "Anyway, Bartie is clearly the superior name." Brittany hugged his neck enthusiastically.

"I don't know," Quinn joined in the conversation with a sly smirk on her face. "What about Samtana?" she suggested, eliciting blushes from both Sam and Santana. Rachel looked over her shoulder at the head cheerleader. Quinn winked in her direction prompting Rachel to giggle behind her hand.

The battle over portmanteaus was set to continue when Mr. Schuster walked in the room. Rachel noticed with a slight smirk that he failed to make eye contact with either her or Puck. Good. Puck noticed the look and grinned.

"Evil, babe."

"Just the way you like me," she whispered, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. She pulled away from him and turned her attention towards their teacher who was finally ready to address the waiting students.

"Before we begin this afternoon, I just want to apologize," Mr. Schuster sighed. "It's come to my attention that I'm really not in the habit of practicing what I preach. I tell you guys that this is a place where you can shine and I don't really give you all the opportunity for that. And for that, I'm truly sorry."

The teens exchanged surprised but confused glances. All except Rachel. She met Mr. Schuster's gaze evenly and nodded. The message was received for both of them. Rachel knew she was just as guilty as Mr. Schue for failing to acknowledge the talent within the group. But she was the lonely diva and he was the teacher who should have known better. She only hoped that they could both do better from now on. Judging by the remorse in his eyes, Rachel was inclined to believe that he would.

"Okay, so does anyone have anything they want to share today?"

Puck raised his hand and rose from seat grabbing his guitar in the process. "I've actually been working on something, Mr. Schue. If that's okay?"

Mr. Schue smiled broadly. "Of course, Puck. I'm sure we'd all love to hear what you've been working on. Continuing your streak of Jewish artists?"

Puck grinned. "Actually, surprisingly yes I am. It counts if one guy in the band is a Jew. Or of Jewish descent at least." He winked in Rachel's direction. Her smile grew brighter as Sam and Artie also joined him in the front of the room. Puck cleared his throat after he had settled down on his seat.

"So I thought about doing this song a few days ago as a way of telling a certain someone how I really feel. Of this is before someone totally stole my thunder and staked her claim on my hot ass." He smirked. "No lie. She legit hip checked a Cheerio."

"He speaks the truth," Sam confirmed with a nod of his head. "Guess she really likes him."

Rachel flushed a brilliant shade of red and covered her red face with her hands, eliciting a few 'aww's from her friends. She was almost certain she heard Finn scoff but she really could care less. She lowered her hands to see Puck staring at her. His gaze was intense and she knew that he was trying to convey how he was feeling without the words. He never needed words with her. His actions were more than enough. She nodded her head.

"Anyway the message is still the same. So this is for Rachel," he finished with a little shrug. He looked to Sam and Artie with a small nod of his head and they started playing. She barely had time to register that she never knew that Sam could play bongo drums (much less that they had them) when she finally registered what song they were singing. Rachel felt the rest of her heart melt as Puck sang Maroon 5's 'She Will Be Loved' with only two of his best friends, their instruments and the raw emotions he was feeling as accompaniment.

She couldn't take her eyes off of him. His eyes were alternately closed or focused intently on his guitar while he sang. It was a habit he fell back on when he was feeling to meet her eyes once more. She gave him a megawatt smile which seemed to put him at ease.

"Puck!" Mr. Schue exclaimed. "That was amazing! I've never heard you sing like that before. That was probably your best performance yet."

Puck shrugged under the praise but couldn't suppress a smile. "What can I say? I had some inspiration."

"I can see that. You think you could use that inspiration in a duet?"

"With who?"

Mr. Schue glanced at Rachel. "What it is you guys are called Puckleberry? Well, I think it's time for a Puckleberry duet. Figgins wants New Directions to perform at a board of directors meeting and I've been tossing around the idea of performing 'Need You Now'. How would you two like to take the lead?"

"A duet? With me and Noah?" Rachel was practically bouncing in her seat. Santana had an arm over her to keep her from literally floating out of her seat.

"Wait, Mr. Schue. You're kidding, right?" Finn called out. "I'm the male lead. Rachel and I are supposed to sing together."

Mr. Schue pointed in his direction. "And that is exactly the attitude that we have to work on. I think that Puck did an excellent job and just proved that sometimes we have to let the others shine."

"That's all good but I thought we actually wanted to place at Regionals this year. We plan on 'shining' then too?"

"We placed at Sectionals without you and Rachel singing," Sam pointed out, even as he placed a hand on Puck's visibly tensed shoulder. "No offense, Rach."

"None taken," Rachel assured him. "Sam's right, Finn. I've been just as guilty of trying to claim the spotlight for myself. And for that I'm truly sorry. This club is special and we're all very talented. It's time for some of us, myself included, to grow up and recognize the talent that we all possess."

Finn opened his mouth to retort but Mr. Schue clapped his hands together and effectively changed the subject. Artie wheeled back to his place beside Brittany while Sam and Puck joined Santana and Rachel. Rachel would look back at this moment and realize this is when strike one occurred. She should have paid more attention to the black cloud that had settled over Puck and Finn. She should have been more observant but instead she was internally working on their song and calculating the pitch, tone and perfect way to blend their voices together.

After practice was where the second mistake of the afternoon occurred. Puck was unusually anxious as they were packing up to leave. But Rachel had noticed that Santana had been trying to get her alone all day. She could sense that the cheerleader needed to talk about something big but they had been surrounded all day. So Rachel asked Puck to meet them at his truck. He reluctantly agreed and left the room. Strike two was not noticing that Finn left the room less than a minute after Puck.

Neither girl noticed because Santana was chewing on her lip watching as the last of the gleeks walked out of the room and Rachel was watching her. Soon it was just them. Rachel placed a hand on top of Santana's.

"What's going on?"

"I keep thinking about yesterday," Santana replied, still chewing on her lip. "I mean at first I was royally pissed that you don't trust me but then I remembered you have no reason to."

"Santana…"

"No, I mean, I tortured you. I said really horribly mean and nasty things to you for no reason. I blurted out that whole thing about Finn just because." She ran a hand over her hair. "I'm a total bitch, Berry. And I enjoy the hell out of it. But I really like being your friend."

Rachel gave her a soft smile and tightened the hold she had on her hand. "You are kind of a bitch. But you are also a really amazing friend. As a matter of fact, you hold the distinction of being one of my best friends pretty much because you got there first." Santana laughed. "I mean it. I've never really had friends before. But I do consider you a friend. All of the negativity is in the past. You and Noah have both apologized and I've forgiven. I was wrong for doubting you yesterday. That was on me."

Santana shook her head but her lips were curving into a smile. "That was pretty stupid of you," Santana admitted. "I would never betray you like that, Rach. I like Puck but we would never do that to you. Ever."

"I know that," Rachel assured. "Now. I know that now. I just let my own insecurities get the best of me and I was listening to what Kurt and Mercedes were telling me."

"And that right there was your problem. Remember the last time you listened to Kurt. You looked like a sad clown hooker."

Rachel giggled feeling the balance between her and Santana restored. Now she just had a boyfriend to find so she could show him exactly how much she loved his performance. Almost as if she read her mind, Santana was laughing beside her. Rachel couldn't help but join her. The two girls finished packing up their stuff and finally made their way out the choir room.

Rachel's phone chirped when they were halfway to the front door. Expecting the message to be from Puck whining about the girls taking too long, she was instantly irritated when she saw it was from Mercedes. Part of her wanted to ignore it but she opened it anyway. Her eyes went wide and Santana stopped to grip her arm.

"What's wrong?"

"Finn and Noah are fighting in the parking lot. Apparently Finn started in on Noah, Sam got in the way and he's hurt."

"Shit, that _pendejo _just never learns!"

Santana pulled Rachel along with her towards the parking lot. As soon as they were out the doors they saw Finn and Puck arguing loudly. Finn was in Puck's face. There was a rapidly growing crowd of gawking students itching for a throw down between the two former friends. Rachel saw Sam sitting on the steps of the school with Quinn and Mercedes hovering over him. His eye was obviously bruised and Rachel winced at the shiner that would be there in the morning. Santana rushed over to him to assess the damage herself.

"Noah!" Rachel yelled his name. He met her gaze and nodded.

"Hudson, we're not having this discussion anymore," he growled. "You fucked up and lost the girl. That had nothing to do with me. So get the hell over yourself. We're done."

He threw his hands up and turned to walk away. It was because his back was turned that he didn't see Finn raising another fist. Rachel called out a warning causing Puck to unfortunately turn around into the blow. Strike three.

The funny thing about the universe was that when something went wrong, it went horribly wrong. Finn's punch landed on the back of Puck's head and almost exactly where his head had hit the divider. Rachel had read about concussions that afternoon in the hospital and she knew the dangers of another blow while he was still recovering from the other concussion. She could only watch as Puck struggled to stand straight. Surprisingly, Finn realized that something was wrong and reached out to steady his friend but Puck flinched away from him. He staggered dazedly away from the stairs and into the pathway of a speeding car. The momentum sent him rolling over the hood of the car before crashing to the pavement with a sickening thud.

Rachel felt numb. She heard screaming but she could only see Puck lying on the ground not moving. She was sent back to their ice skating adventure when he slipped. It was funny at first but then he wouldn't move and both Santana and Rachel got worried. By the time the ambulance had arrived, the two girls were a mess of tears and ruined makeup while Puck was wide awake and laughing at their 'unnecessarily loud hysterics' the entire ambulance ride. Rachel got the feeling that they wouldn't be that lucky this time. She might never see him awake again. The thought that the last conversation they had was her asking him to leave sickened her. She felt…

"Rachel!"

She blinked at Santana suddenly in her face. She tried to pull away from the hands that held her tightly but Santana's grip was almost ironclad. The cheerleader's eyes were wide and she was a few shades lighter. Rachel could see the tears shimmering in the wide, fear filled brown orbs.

"You back with me?"

Back? It was only then that Rachel registered that the screaming had been from her. She didn't give it further thought as she pushed through the crowd and dropped down besides Puck. The driver of the car was hovering anxiously in the background. She heard Quinn practically screeching at someone over the phone. Sam and Mercedes were just returning with Mr. Schuster and Ms. Pillsbury. Santana was sitting on the ground next to Rachel and holding her hand.

She was aware of all the movements around her but none of that mattered as her attention was only on Puck. He was on his back just behind the car. Bile rose in her throat as she stared at him lying brokenly on the pavement. There wasn't a part of his face that wasn't covered in blood. His left arm was angled crookedly and was partially hidden underneath his body. She reached a shaky towards his chest hoping to feel at least a heartbeat. She rested her hand there tentatively, scared of hurting him further. There was a weak rise and fall underneath her hand that had her nearly sobbing in relief.

"He's going to be okay," Santana whispered, though it seemed like she was trying to convince herself more than Rachel. "He's going to be okay."

Rachel didn't respond. She merely held her friend's hand and concentrated on the weak sign of life underneath her under hand. He had to be okay. Because she didn't know how she was supposed to be okay without him.

* * *

"Deb."

Rachel's head shot up at the sound of her father's voice. He looked grim and his normally blue scrubs were splattered with blood. Noah's blood, a voice in her head reminded her. He was covered in Noah's blood. But then again so was she. Santana had tried to get her to change as soon as they arrived at the hospital, but Rachel had refused. Now seeing her father covered in blood only reminded her of her own soiled clothing.

"Leroy," Debra Puckerman rose as he walked over to the large group keeping vigil. She had just been coming off a sixteen hour shift when she heard about the accident at the school. Rachel knew the woman had been praying it wasn't her son right until the moment she saw him unloaded from the ambulance.

After the paramedics had rushed the still unconscious and not at all laughing Puck away from the scene, Santana had snapped into action, grabbing his fallen bag, Rachel and the keys to his truck. Sam barely had time to scramble into the back of the truck as Santana was peeling out the parking lot and following the ambulance. They arrived seconds after Puck and were in time to see his mother almost fall apart. The trio had been sitting with her ever since.

"Is he okay?" Brittany's voice wobbled prompting Artie to hold her closer on his lap. Quinn and Mercedes had appointed themselves the official notification team. They had located every member of the glee club, minus those involved, and rounded them up. It had been an almost overwhelming group consensus that they would all wait at the hospital. And they were all there, including Mr. Schuster, Ms. Pillsbury and Coach Bieste. Everyone except for Finn who had fled the scene right before the paramedics showed up. At this point, Rachel could care less what happened with him. She didn't think she would be able to even think straight until she knew... something.

"I've got good news and some bad news," Leroy admitted with a heavy sigh. "Would you like to talk in private?" his gaze flickered to each of the gathered teens before landing on his daughter and the girl who had practically been adopted into his family just by the sheer amount of time she spent with them. He smiled wanly in their direction, obviously wanting to comfort them but needing to fulfill his role as a doctor first. He could be a parent later.

"I don't think that will be necessary," Debra shook her head. "I think its best we just get all the information out. I don't think they're going to leave anyway." Debra swallowed. "Is he alive?"

"Yes," Leroy assured her. There was a moment of relief before they all remembered that there was bad news as well. "He was lucky as far as internal damage. There wasn't much internal bleeding. The worst of his injuries were sustained when he landed. He did break a few of the ribs on his left side, his collarbone and his wrist. The most concerning is his head. This is his second head injury in weeks. He reacted negatively to the punch to the head and that was before he landed on his head."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that he has is suffering from a traumatic brain injury."

There was a sharp intake of breaths from everyone in the room. "What does that mean? Is he going to be okay?" Quinn asked hesitantly.

"I'm afraid I can't really answer that question yet," Leroy replied sadly. "He has severe intracranial pressure at the moment. Until the swelling goes down, we won't be able to really see how much, if any, long term damage was done. Based on his initial reaction to being hit again, we're expecting that there will likely be some complications mentally. We've placed him in a medically induced coma in order to reduce the swelling. We won't know anything for sure until the swelling has gone down."

"Coma? Mental complications?" Debra whispered. Tears leaked slowly from her eyes and Rachel didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around the woman. She held Puck's mother even as her father listed the possible complications that Puck could face once he woke up. Permanent short term memory loss. Speech difficulties. Blindness. Deafness. Each was just as horrible as the other. But she knew that no matter what she was going to stand by him. She had already adjusted her dreams to take them both out of Lima. It would take some finagling but she would factor in whatever complications this accident threw their way.

After all she was Rachel Barbara Berry. And while she didn't always get what she wanted, she would fight like hell for what she needed.

* * *

*And on that depressing note, I promise that the fluff will return in the next chapter. The next chapter will also bring an end to the Finn character assassination. Hopefully when the show comes back in April, they'll drop this whole Finn/Quinn/Rachel triangle again. It was annoying first season. I don't think it'll be less annoying during the second season.


	6. Wake Up Call

**Summary: **The journey of one Rachel Barbra Berry as she learns that there is more to life than just dreams of Broadway and life outside of Lima thanks to a few of her friends.

**Pairings:** Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Faberry friendship, Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, hints of Sam/Santana

**Warnings:** This contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did there would be many more songs featuring Santana, Puck and Artie. There would also be a lot more Mike.

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the delay especially after last chapter but it's just been a crazy, crazy couple of weeks at my job. And they said being a crisis therapist would be easy. Yeah, right. Anyway, here is this chapter. I apologize if it's not as good as the others. As I've said, it's been a little bumpy and I'm having a hard time trying to focus myself to write. But I didn't want to just forget about everyone. So I hope you enjoy and the fluff returns with this chapter… except for the beginning. Then it's fluff… Enjoy!

* * *

Wake Up Call

Rachel sighed as she made a journey that was a familiar to her as walking, talking and singing. She had been making these trips every month for the past ten years. In the first few months after the accident, she was there every day. But over time, it grew harder and harder to see him that way. The trips became every few days and then became once a week. Now between college, Broadway… and everything, she was lucky she was able to make these trips every month. She knew that was all going to change after this visit. She glanced down at her left hand before pushing the door to his room open.

Puck lay in the bed utterly still as he had been since 2011 when he was struck by a car. In that time, there had been numerous efforts to bring him back to consciousness with no results. He wasn't brain dead. He was just simply sleeping. For the past ten years.

"Hey, Noah," Rachel whispered as she approached his bedside. She sat in what used to be her chair and held his limp hand in hers. "I have some news." She took a deep breath. "I've been trying to figure out how to say this to you but… I couldn't…."

She blinked away her tears. "I met someone in my theater program. His name is Jack. He's really sweet and kind. We've been dating for awhile now. And… yesterday… yesterday, he asked me to marry him." She looked again at the ring on her finger. "I said yes, Noah. I said yes because he's a sweet man that wants to marry me. I've been holding everyone and everything back because I was waiting for you. It's been ten years!"

She stared at the unmoved face. "I have to let you go," she continued. "I'm the only one still holding onto you. San has been nagging for me years to stop this. You know tomorrow is her and Sam's third wedding anniversary. I can't believe they've been together this long. I was sure that San was going to rip his head off and eat it. Especially while she was pregnant with Maria."

As usual the smart aleck response never came. The only sounds in the room where from the various monitors that told them that he was alive but that the man she loved was somewhere else entirely. She got it now. She had been holding onto the idea of him. Much as she had held onto the dream of her and Finn until the man in front of her had gotten her to see the light. She owed him everything but she knew that he wouldn't want her holding on. He would want her to live her life.

"Goodbye, Noah," she brushed her lips over his forehead. "I will always love you. But I'm moving on."

She leaned back only to find his eyelids fluttering. For a joyous moment she thought he might open his eyes. The heart monitor beside his bed began to increase in activity before it suddenly let out a screeching siren. She had spent ten years with these machines and she knew that sound meant that his heart had stopped.

"No, Noah. No! This isn't supposed to happen! No."

"Rachel?"

She heard the voice but couldn't focus on it. She was lying to herself again. She didn't want Jack. She wanted Noah to wake up and give her forever like she always imagined. This wasn't supposed to be how their story ended.

"Rachel!"

"Quinn?"

She blinked her eyes and suddenly she wasn't in his hospital room but in a moving car. She groaned and sat up straight.

"What?"

Quinn was sitting beside her with a look of concern and understanding on her face. "You had the dream again, didn't you?"

"Dream?" she ran a hand through her hair. Her mind struggled to catch up on what she was obviously missing. "It was a dream?"

"Which one was it this time? The one where you accept the Tony, dedicate to Puck and are all ready to hop a plane back to Lima to tell him when you find out he died an hour before? Or the one where you're visiting to tell him that you're marrying some dopey Finn clone named Jonah and then Puck dies?" Santana's voice drifted from the front seat of what she now recognized as Sam's car.

Rachel sighed in relief as she finally recognized where she was. Or rather when she was. "It was the second one," she replied. "And his name was Jack, not Jonah."

"Whatever," Santana scoffed, though her eyes frequently drifted to the rearview mirror. "You've been having those dreams a lot lately."

And by a lot, Santana really meant every day for the past week since the accident. The Latina would be the expert on this as she had practically moved in with the Berry family. Her excuse was that the hospital was closer to Rachel's house than hers. Honestly, Rachel knew it had more to do with a comfort thing. And it was a comfort to have Santana at home with her. Her fathers hadn't even blinked at the girl's addition to their household. They merely set an extra plate for dinner and another few settings for breakfast which was usually attended by two or more of the gleeks.

"I hope that's not your 'little bit psychic' thing coming out to play," Quinn said.

"I don't know," Rachel said, with a teasing smile, lightening the mood in the car. "There was one part in there that I kinda liked. The third year wedding anniversary of Sam and Santana was a nice touch."

The two girls exchanged amused looks as Santana and Sam both flushed and avoided looking at one another. It was almost too easy these days. Quinn had started a pool to see how long it would take for them to get their act together. Rachel had her money on sometime before Valentine's Day (which she hoped would be long after Puck woke up as he would want to get in on this as well).

"It was nice of Mr. Schue to cancel practice today," Sam said, changing the subject. "Too bad Coach Sylvester didn't feel the same way."

"Screw that psychotic bitch," Santana hissed in response. "I, for one, am glad that we're done with that crap."

'That crap' being the Cheerios. Since Puck's condition stabilized enough for him to be in a private room, Santana, Rachel, Sam and various members of the Glee club had been practically living in the room on an almost constant basis. The only pauses in their schedule were for school and enforced meals and sleeping. As far as they were concerned, extracurricular activities were superfluous as none of them could focus on anything other than their comatose friend. Mr. Schue and Coach Bieste had been more than understanding and had excused them from practices until Puck was awake. The generosity did not extend to Sue Sylvester. If anything, she was trying to over compensate and called for more practices.

Since they were preparing for a competition, Quinn and Brittany had managed to convince the visibly reluctant Santana to attend. She had been unusually resistant about going to practice and definitely wasn't putting her all into the actual routines. Quinn had tried to explain to their coach that Santana was just upset about Puck and would be back to normal once he was awake. But Coach Sylvester was unyielding. She had bitched and complained and snapped at Santana until finally she couldn't take it anymore. Rachel and Sam could only watch in surprise from their seats on the gym benches as Santana spun on her heel and stormed off to the locker rooms. She returned minutes later wearing street clothes and carrying her uniform in one hand. She threw the uniform at their coach and said only two words.

"I quit."

After a long night of bad chick flicks and lots of ice cream, Rachel finally convinced Santana that her world was in fact not coming to an end and that she would be fine without the Cheerios. Mostly because she was and always would be a gleek. This point was further driven home when they arrived at school the next morning to find Brittany and Quinn waiting at Santana's locker, also out of uniform and wearing matching smiles.

"Guess we're all just gleeks now," Santana said, laughing. Quinn and Brittany agreed and that was the end of that era. And Rachel was pretty secure in the fact that it was an ending as they all attended a late night bonfire with Quinn and Brittany's uniforms as the kindling.

Rachel was brought back to the present as the car finally came to a stop. Santana fell in step with Rachel with Quinn and Sam taking up the rear. Rachel had to smile at the friendship between the two exes. Despite lingering feelings for Sam, Quinn just wanted the best for him. And she thought that maybe that could be with Santana. Rachel wondered if things could ever be like that with her and Finn. Their entire relationship had been built on her adoration and obsessive love for him. They never really had a chance to be friends. And now that she had really seen what he was capable of, she wasn't sure that she wanted to be friends with him. She wasn't sure she wanted anything to do with him that didn't involve some sort of physical harm being thrown his way. Right now she hated him. She was so happy he was suspended from school as she hadn't had to look at him for a solid week. Until right now.

Since Mr. Schue had canceled practice, they had made it to the hospital in record time. That's why it was entirely surprising to find that they weren't the first ones there. The chair by Puck's bed was occupied by the person who had helped to put him there. His back was facing the four teens standing in the doorway and he was hunched forward, eyes locked on the almost peaceful looking figure on the bed.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Santana hissed. Sam had to put an arm around her waist to keep her from rushing into the room. Rachel was too busy glaring daggers at his back to catch the moment. She was confident that Quinn would fill her in on the details later.

"I don't think I can say this enough, dude, but I'm sorry," Finn said, his voice quiet and unaware of the audience behind him. "I fucked up so bad."

"Yeah, you did," Sam said, announcing their presence. Finn jumped at the sound of his voice and whirled around to face his two ex-girlfriends, Sam and Santana. Rachel was happy to see that the week had been rough for Finn. He had bags under his eyes speaking to the lack of sleep. The normally soulful brown orbs were red and bloodshot. In other words, he looked like crap and Rachel couldn't be happier. Except if Puck woke up. That would trump Finn's misery easily.

"I didn't think… that you'd be here. Glee…." Finn trailed off, nervously.

"Yeah, well, Mr. Schue canceled practice until Puck wakes up," Santana answered, entering the room. "It's a little difficult to sing and dance around when one of your own is in a coma and one of others put him there because he's a jealous, stupidly selfish bastard."

Finn flinched at the comment as if he were physically struck. "I never meant for this to happen."

"No one cares, Finn," Quinn said, tiredly. "You're only sorry because people are angry with you. You're not the center of attention anymore and you think if you apologize you'll go back to being the golden boy again."

"That… that's not true."

"Quinn is right. You've never ever had to work for anything before," Rachel snapped. "You're used to people just giving you what you want because you're freaking Finn Hudson. And now you're learning what it's like to answer for the all the mistakes you've made. You're so used to putting everyone in their place and making them answer for the things that they've done to you. It doesn't feel so good, does it?"

Before Finn could respond the monitors in the room started going off. Rachel pushed past Finn fearing the worst. This was exactly how it started in her dreams. A nurse rushed into the room and read the monitor readings. Rachel held Puck's hand against her chest and watched as whatever the nurse read caused her to speed out of the room. The others pressed against the wall as more medical staff began pouring in the room, including Rachel's father.

"Noah, please," Rachel whispered as the monitors continued to beep loudly. "Please don't leave me. I will wait, I promise. But you can't leave me."

She was so wrapped up in listening to the hushed but urgent conversations around her that she failed to notice the light pressure squeezing her own hand. That is until his heart monitor began to beep rapidly.

"He's agitated," Leroy finally addressed the worried teens.

"That's a bad thing, right?"

"Ordinarily, but right now it's a good thing. It means that he's responding to emotions in the room. This is a very good thing."

Rachel smiled tearfully and held his hand tighter. That's when she felt the light squeeze of pressure against her. Her eyes widened.

"My hand. He's squeezing my hand, dad."

"Well I'll be damned," Leroy chuckled. "You're finally ready to wake up, huh? It's about time, kiddo."

Motivated by the potential to see their friend awake for the first time in a week, Santana, Quinn and Sam made their way to the bed a swell. Santana stood next to Rachel and placed her hand on his left. Quinn stood at the foot of the bed waiting for a sign of wakefulness. Sam was hovering over Rachel and Santana's shoulders.

"Come on, Puckerman," Sam encouraged. "I know you're lazy but this has been extreme, dude."

Rachel felt another squeeze on her hand before his fingers curled around hers. "Noah, come back to me."

She wanted to believe it would be just like the movies where he would wake up after a few dramatic moments and be his normal self. The reality was far from that as it took almost another full hour of waiting, teasing and pleading for him to finally open his eyes. All complaints about the time were forgotten as his eyes slowly opened.

Leroy shooed them back as best he could and leaned down over his patient. "Hey, kiddo. How are you feeling?"

Puck moved his head slightly before slamming his eyes shut again. Leroy held up a hand cutting off the concerned teens before they could bombard him with questions.

"I know that you might not be feeling up to it right now, but I need you to answer some questions for me. Ok?"

The silence in the room was tense and heavy before a quiet, hoarse voice finally said, "ok."

It was one word, no more than two letters but it was the most beautiful sound that she had ever heard. She didn't need to look to know that the others were wearing similar looks of awe.

"Great. So can you tell me how you're feeling right now?"

"Sore… tired. 'M shoulder… hurt."

"I know and we'll get you something for that really soon. Now can you tell me your name?"

Rachel felt her breath catch at this question. All of the literature that she had managed to read before her fathers and Santana had banned her from research warned of retrograde amnesia. She didn't know how she would deal if he couldn't remember her. Remember them….

"My name?" he licked his lips and opened his eyes again. His head rolled in the direction of his friends. He looked at them for the first time since he woke up.

"Noah... Puck… man"

"Noah Puck…man."

"Okay," Leroy's smile wavered somewhat but he appeared to shrug it off for the moment. "And do you know who I am?"

"Rachel… dad. 'M doctor."

"Good job, Noah. Only a few more questions and then I can let you rest some more." Leroy patted him on the chest. "Do you know why you're in the hospital?"

"Car?" he murmured, his brow furrowed in thought. "Hit me?"

"Yes. A car hit you. Do you remember what was going on when the car hit you?"

"Finn…" his eyes suddenly grew bigger and the heart monitor began to pick up again. "Where?"

"Noah, what's wrong?" Leroy put a hand on his chest trying to keep him from moving around too much. "What do you need?"

"Car… Finn?"

Rachel was trying to process his obvious agitation and the little words he was saying. Finally she understood what he was trying to say. And though he clearly didn't deserve it, Rachel was touched by Puck's concern over Finn. She found the boy trying badly to blend into the background. She grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the bed so that Puck could see him.

"Finn is here, Noah. He's fine. He wasn't hurt."

"Okay?"

Finn nodded. "I'm fine, dude. You're the one that's hurt."

"'s good," he replied. His breathing hitched and the heart monitor gave another series of beeps. Leroy walked out the room presumably to find the promised pain relievers.

"Puck," Finn started before giving the others a nervous look. "I just need you know to that I'm so freaking sorry. I swear never meant for this to happen. I can't believe you almost died over a stupid song. God I'm such an asshole. I'm so sorry."

"Finn," Puck hissed insistently. "Stop… it's squashed."

With that absolution, Finn fell apart with tears of thanks. As Leroy came back in the room brandishing a syringe full of what Santana had termed "the good stuff", Sam and Quinn ushered the still blubbering Finn out the room. Rachel watched her father insert the syringe's contents into Puck's IV. Within minutes, his creased brow eased and his eyes closed again but his hand still held onto hers tightly.

"Is he…?"

"Just sleeping," Leroy assured her. "He's only sleeping this time. Once he's awake again, we'll take him down to get a MRI so we can see what's going on in there." Leroy put an arm around both of his girls. "But I think it's safe to say that we're out of the woods for now."

And that was the best news that Rachel had heard in awhile. She would dream again that night. But this time when she dedicated her Tony to Puck, she was thanking her wonderfully supportive husband who had always believed in her. Best dream ever.

* * *

It's not over. I'm just warning that there might be another break in posting. Hopefully not too long. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know what you think! Ciao.


	7. Ordinary Day

**Summary:** The journey of one Rachel Barbra Berry as she learns that there is more to life than just dreams of Broadway and life outside of Lima thanks to a few of her friends.

**Pairings:** Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Faberry friendship, Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, hints of Sam/Santana

**Warnings:** This contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did there would be many more songs featuring Santana, Puck and Artie. There would also be a lot more Mike.

**Author's Note:** I struggled with writing this chapter. While I'm happy with this story as it helped me to finally write a Glee story, I'm not too sure where I'm going with it. So expect that updates will be getting very spread out. I've started writing another story that I do have more direction with (if anyone is interested, lol) but hopefully you all enjoy this chapter. I'm not giving up on it. I just want to make sure that I'm not just posting for the hell of it. A lot of people have shown love for this story and I want to make it worth it. Thanks for reading my rambles! Hope you enjoy. More fluff ahead….

* * *

Just a Day, Just an Ordinary Day

Rachel was pretty secure in the growth and maturity that she had worked towards cultivating since that day in December when Puck and Santana had let her into their world. She hit some bumps in the road during that time but she felt that she was showing a lot of personal growth. Or at least that's what Sam and Santana thought as they loudly discussed just how long they thought she was going to cry versus her actual time. If she wasn't so certain that they were doing it just to get a rise out of her, she would point out that this was her dance class and they were being quite rude. Also she was certain that if she stopped dancing, she may start questioning just why Puck wouldn't allow her to see him today.

Earlier that afternoon, the trio (as the head nurse constantly referred to them) made their way into Puck's room only to hear that he was not letting them in. He allowed Brittany and Artie, who had accompanied them but he was refusing to allow Sam, Rachel or Santana… also known as the people who visited him the most when he was sleeping. Rachel was mid arabesque when she realized that was the answer. They had wholeheartedly thrown themselves into their constant vigil and a lot of things had been neglected in the process. This was Puck's way of forcing them to get back on track. It would have been endearing if it wasn't so damned annoying.

She stalked across the room to where her two friends were sitting. "So you finally figured it out, midget?" Santana asked with a teasing smirk.

"How'd you know? Some secret BFF mind link?" Rachel snarked.

"Oh, that was harsh," Santana rubbed her chest. "I think we're starting to rub off of on you."

"You just figured that out? Seriously, how did you know?

"Nope, he sent her a text," Sam grinned, killing the mystery. "He thinks we're awesome for wanting to be with him all the time but that we need to 'go live our fucking lives' and visit his 'laid up' ass tomorrow."

"He's getting much better with the one handed texting," Santana murmured looking at the message. "Now if he could just apply that much energy to the walking, he'd be out of there in no time."

Rachel couldn't help but snort at that. After he woke up, her father had ordered another CAT scan. This one revealed that while there were some complications they weren't as life altering as previously thought. He would most likely suffer from chronic migraines and his vision was slightly impaired. He would now be sporting glasses when it came to reading but those were all livable. The most troubling was his seeming inability to walk. He had perfect usage of his legs. It just seemed that his brain wasn't clicking when it came to actually carrying out the walking part. Her father had assured them all it was likely a temporary setback but he would remain in the hospital until they could resolve that issue.

"Honestly, I think the only reason he's not walking is because he likes wheelchair racing with Artie way too much," Sam grinned. "Gotta admit, it's kinda awesome watching them burn rubber down the hallways."

"I'm pretty sure the staff does not feel the same way," Rachel chided "Especially not when you, Mike and Tina insist upon betting with the orderlies. You'd think they'd have more sense as they are older."

"You'd think but you'd be wrong," Santana laughed. She paused as her pocket vibrated. Her phone was in her hand so that meant that it was Rachel's phone. She pulled the iPhone out of her pocket and frowned at the id on the screen. "It's Beyonce."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "What does he want?"

"Most likely nothing good," Sam replied, glaring at the phone. "Just let it go to voice mail. He's just going to try and bring you down again."

"What he said."

Let it not be said that she wasn't learning to listen to her friends. She ignored the call and set about packing up the rest of her belongings that Santana and Sam had been watching over. That is until her phone rang again. It was Kurt once more. She ignored that call and continued to pack. By the time the phone rang a fourth time, she was ready to chuck it out the window. But as it was her only means of contacting Puck until this silly little ban was over, she supposed the lesser of the evils would be to just answer it.

"Yes, Kurt?"

"Nice, is this how you treat all your friends?"

"Oh, so we're friends now? That's news. Now what is so important that you just had to call me four times in a row, friend?"

She heard him sigh dramatically and steeled herself for the impending diva fit. "You need to do something about that boyfriend of yours."

"Noah?'

"Unless you suddenly wised up and found a new one, yes. Noah."

Rachel chose to ignore the way Kurt made Puck's name sound like something he found stuck to his Prada vest. She also chose to ignore that he still foolishly believed that he had some say in her relationship with Puck. She decided to focus on how her boyfriend who was probably popping wheelies with Artie in the hospital hallway and trying the nerves of most of the doctors and nurses could possibly be bothering Kurt. She asked this aloud and the response was so much better than she imagined.

"He's trying to steal Blaine from me!"

She slapped the palm of her hand over her mouth in a futile attempt at suppressing her amusement. She had him repeat it once more and this time she didn't bother to try to stop the laughter. She flopped down on the couch besides Santana and laughed until she felt tears streaming down her face. She felt her best friend pull the phone from her slack grip.

"What the hell did you say to make her cackle like that?" Santana asked a mix between suspicious and amused. Santana's eyes widened as Kurt no doubt delivered the same line. She handed the phone back to Rachel before relaying the message to Sam and achieving similar results.

"I'm glad you're all amused by the thought of Puck trying to steal my boyfriend."

"Kurt, there is nothing to be but amused by that," Rachel replied, shaking her head. "I can definitely assure you that 'your relationship with Blaine' is no danger from Noah." And then a thought occurred to her. "Why is Blaine anywhere near Noah to begin with?"

There was a guilty pause and Rachel was already starting to paint the picture in her head. "Mercedes, Blaine and I only went by to check on him and see how he was recovering since Finn is still terrified to go and the parental units are just so grateful that his family isn't pressing charges against Finn. Anyway, apparently Noah took offense to the conversation that you and I had in the mall last month and decided that we should all leave. I may have some words about that treatment."

"Some words," Rachel repeated dryly. "Still not seeing how he's trying to take Blaine from you."

"After I said my piece, he regressed to the atypical Neanderthal that he is and had Mercedes and I thrown out. He offered to let Blaine stay and Blaine agreed. He agreed with him! Your boyfriend's over the top male stupidity has infected Blaine and as I'm apparently not allowed near the hospital, I demand that you fix this."

Rachel pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. There was overly dramatic and then there was Kurt. He was a class all to himself. And if she was the old Rachel, she probably would have given him some speech to help cheer him up. She probably would have baked him cookies and hoped that this would make them friends. But that was then and this was now. Now she only hung up the phone, ignoring his squawking protests. She looked over at the still amused and chuckling Santana and Sam.

"So I think that this warrants a bit of investigation, don't you? After all I've seen Blaine," Rachel grinned. "I think he might actually be some serious competition."

It took another ten minutes of ignored phone calls and giggling best friends before they were finally on their way back to the hospital. The floor was suspiciously empty of wheelchair bound teenagers racing the corridors. She cast an apprehensive look at Maggie, the head nurse, who may have actually succeeded in her master plan of eliminating the usual suspects. Maggie caught the look and smirked.

"He said you three would be back today. They're still in his room. They found a better way to keep themselves occupied than giving me gray hairs," Maggie rolled her eyes, running a hand absently through her perfectly gray hair. "I have to admit I like the new kid that came with the loud bossy pair. He's kinda cute. Nice voice too."

None of them had to question what she meant by them finding a new way to occupy themselves. It seemed that Rachel wasn't the only one missing glee practices as she walked to the doorway to find Puck lying on his bed as usual. Blaine was sitting cross legged on the foot of the bed playing Puck's guitar. Brittany and Artie were there watching as the two boys sang softly to whatever melody Blaine was playing. Rachel leaned her head against the doorframe and watched her boyfriend. She didn't know why he always played aloof and uninterested in glee when it was clear he had so much talent.

"Oh look, we have an audience," Blaine pointed out. Puck snorted. "I'm assuming they were expected."

"I'm shocked they actually left," Puck smirked. "I'm disappointed, babe. It took you a whole two hours to figure it out?"

Rachel huffed and elbowed a snickering Santana in the stomach. "Well, it would have been better if you had just told me your completely assine reason for having us barred from your room." She cocked her head to the side. "Although it doesn't seem like you're lacking company."

"Ah, let me guess," he grinned. "Kurt called and bitched about me nabbing his boyfriend?"

"Technically not his boyfriend," Blaine corrected. "I'm a boy that is a friend. But not necessarily a boyfriend."

"Kurt was being a mega bitch," Brittany reported. "I think someone peed on his rainbow."

"What was Mercedes' excuse?" Artie asked amusement evident.

"She's not getting any?"

"Noah!"

"What? She's not," he gave a one shouldered shrug. "She'd be significantly more mellowed if she were getting some on a somewhat consistent basis. Isn't that right, Satan? You've been pretty mellow since the Biebs started hanging around."

Much as Rachel as anticipated, Puck had thrown his hat in the Samtana ring. While Quinn was subtle hints and sly comments, Puck was all inappropriate gestures and blunt honesty. It was part of the reason she loved him so much.

"You know for someone who could barely speak in complete sentences a week ago, you're really freaking talkative," Sam said, dryly. "I'm trying to figure out if you were this much of a pain in the ass before the coma or if this is some new feature of the brain damage."

Puck narrowed his eyes but he was still grinning, completely ruining his attempt at being threatening. "Why don't you come over here and say that?"

Sam smirked. "Because my eye just healed from the last time I got involved in a verbal altercation about you, I'd rather not get decked in the face." He paused and looked around the room. Rachel knew that he was likely looking for Puck's wheelchair which was nowhere to be found. "Tell you what, why don't you come over here and I'll repeat it."

"You sure about that, Bieber?"

"Oh, totally sure."

Rachel would have warned Sam to always be cautious when Puck had that face on. The face that promised someone was going to pay and it would be painful. She really did want to warn him about that because she really did like Sam. However, at that moment, she was too surprised at seeing her boyfriend stagger across the room. True he resembled a drunken zombie having a bad acid trip but he was walking. He was actually walking.

"You going to repeat that now?" Puck asked, slightly out of breath at the effort of shuffling the ten feet from his bed to the door. A smirk played across his lips at the awe and surprise on his friends' faces. Sam was openly gaping at Puck, clearly too surprised to think about repeating his earlier comment. "Close your mouth, Sammy. I'm pretty sure that thing could end up sucking it the whole room."

Blaine cocked his head to the side at that moment as if noticing Sam for the first time. "Dude, your mouth is huge. How many balls can you fit in there?"

"Oh for crying out loud!" Sam protested. "Not another one!"

Rachel, and the others, laughed at Sam's exaggerated outrage. It was obvious that he was just as happy as everyone else that Puck was actually mobile again. Rachel was even happier when she was pulled into a familiar embrace. Though she had hugged him plenty of times since he woke up, this was the first time he had been standing. She was never more aware and pleased with their height difference than in this moment.

"Hey," he whispered.

She rested her head against his chest, reveling in the steady heartbeat in her ear. Her arms wound around his waist. "Hey."

"Babe?"

"Yes, Noah?"

"I like Blaine. Can we keep him?"

Though she wanted to tell him that Blaine was a human being and therefore not capable of being kept not to mention Kurt believed Blaine was his exclusive property, she didn't. She only grinned at the thought of Kurt's indignant squawking when he found that Blaine was now one of them, at least unofficially. Besides Puck could pretty much ask her to do anything, short of robbing a bank, she'd do it. Although she was even open to negotiations about the bank issue. Rachel snuggled deeper into his chest and nodded.

"Okay."

"Definitely rubbing off on her," Santana murmured.

Rachel smirked. They said it like it was a bad thing. She happened to think it was a very good thing.


	8. Getting Back to Normal

**Summary:** The journey of one Rachel Barbra Berry as she learns that there is more to life than just dreams of Broadway and life outside of Lima thanks to a few of her friends.

**Pairings:** Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Faberry friendship, Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, hints of Sam/Santana

**Warnings:** This contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did there would be many more songs featuring Santana, Puck and Artie. There would also be a lot more Mike and his wondrous abs.

**Author's Note:** I almost didn't update this story. I know that I said I wasn't going to abandon it but I really contemplated it for awhile. But people continue to favorite and read it, so I guess there is something to it, lol. I'm not promising quicker updates, or an actual plot, but it seems that I just can't quit this story. So here you go, more of _Being Rachel Berry_.

* * *

Getting Back to Normal

"You're sure about this, Noah? You don't have to prove anything to anyone," Rachel said as she, Santana, and Sam walked beside a clearly determined Noah Puckerman. As usual their stubborn friend ignored their obvious concern and intelligent advice and continued on his path into the school building.

After almost a month and a half out of school, Puck was determined to attend for some reason that escaped all logic. Rachel almost thought he was joking when Sam called her that morning and informed her that he would be picking her up before picking up Puck. It wasn't until they pulled up to his front yard and found him impatiently leaning on his cane that they realized the idiot was serious about this.

There were several reasons that Rachel didn't feel comfortable with this idea. The most concerning was that he was still heavily relying on a cane to help him move. While Puck was definitely more mobile than he was two weeks ago, he was still limited in his range of movement. He was also still in pain from the broken bones and visibly miserable. But he was still making his way slowly but surely to the school building.

That's where Rachel's real fears came into play. The students at McKinley often proved that they weren't the most tolerant of differences. He would be teased for his newly acquired and completely temporary handicap and it wouldn't end well.

"Last chance to back out," Santana said as she stood in front of the doors of the school. "No one will think you're a coward. You're still healing. Give it a little more time."

"I'm bored," he huffed, rolling his eyes as if they were the stupid ones.

"Really, Puckerman. You're going to school because you're bored?" Sam shook his head and smiled. "And they say that I'm a little slow."

"You are, Bieber."

"Nice to know the well of ridiculous and inane insults wasn't damaged in the accident too," Sam retorted before processing what he actually said. Though they joked about that while he was in the hospital, standing in front of him about to face the outside world for the first time, it was decidedly not funny. "Shit, dude, I'm so sorry."

Puck rolled his eyes. "'s cool." He motioned for Santana to open the door where they ran straight into Brittany, Artie and Mike who were waiting by the front door. "Wal-Mart?"

Mike and Artie exchanged confused glances with Sam, Santana and Rachel. But Brittany appeared to understand completely.

"Exactly!" she grinned happily, clapping her hands together before looping her arms through Puck's uninjured arm. "We're totally like the Wal-Mart greeters except better dressed and don't smell like old." Puck gave her a fondly amused look before allowing her to drag him away.

"I don't know whether to be happy or worried for the future of his mental state that Brittany can understand him when he talks like that," Santana murmured to Rachel. She noticed the look on the shorter girl's face and nudged her with her elbow. "What's wrong?"

"I still don't like this," Rachel admitted. "He shouldn't be here. It's just too soon after everything. I mean he almost died. I think he's entitled to take a little time off. But no, he has to be stubborn Noah as usual!"

"I don't think that's it actually," Artie spoke up. There was a hint of something in his tone that drew all eyes to the wheelchair bound young man. He flushed a little at the sudden attention on him. "It's just that when your life suddenly changes in a way that could be permanent, all you want is things to go back to the way that it was. For Puck, this is all just a return to normalcy. To a time before he had to worry about walking with a cane or weird speech patterns. I understand what that's like."

It all made perfect sense which made them all feel even worse about not catching onto it sooner. While in the hospital, Puck was able to pretend everything was all good. But once he got home, the reality settled in that his life was changed because of the accident. And he had no control over any of those changes. And they all knew that Puck did not deal well having no control. So this was just his way of restoring some balance to his life.

Rachel gave Artie a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying up to where Puck and Brittany were still making their way to their lockers. Brittany continued to talk to Puck as if she were oblivious to his slow pace. She made no offers to help him and didn't blink if he said something weird. In other words, this was the happiest Rachel had seen Puck since he left the hospital. Brittany for all her dizziness was able to see past the injuries and remember that Puck was still their friend. It would be difficult but Rachel vowed to do the same.

"So we have glee after school," Rachel said, once she was standing on his free side. He gave her an appraising look. "I think Mr. Schue is going to talk about the set list for Regionals. I was thinking of suggesting that we perform our duet that we never got a chance to perform."

"You want me to perform at Regionals with you?" Puck asked, skeptically.

Rachel smiled brightly. "That is if you think you can keep up with me."

Puck opened his mouth to immediately retort but he closed it just as quickly. A look of understanding flashed in his eyes. "Thanks, Rach."

"No problem, Noah. Now, if we don't hurry we'll be late to class and I hate sitting in the back. Jacob feels like that's a sign for him to be a perv."

"You should get Puck to trip him with his cane," Brittany suggested. "No one will ever yell at a cripple. It's why Artie gets away with so much."

"Hey! I'm not crippled!"

Brittany patted him on the cheek. "Sure you're not."

Rachel shook her head as they continued to walk down the halls with Puck protesting loudly that he was definitely not a cripple. If several gawking students were accidentally pushed into lockers or tripped over a certain cane, she wasn't saying a word. It was a struggle all day and a lot of them found themselves trying to help him. Puck gladly helped to fix that problem by turning the cane on them. By the end of the day, most of his friends were more than willing to let rot on the ground if he ended falling due to his stubborn stupidity.

That afternoon marked the third actual glee practice they had since the New Year started. The atmosphere in the room was as tense as ever as the other gleeks were still less than warm and fuzzy towards Finn. The former golden child sat on the opposite side of the room while the others waited for Rachel and Puck to arrive. When they did walk in, Puck rolled his eyes and stalked over to where Finn was sitting. He plopped down in the seat beside his former best friend and pulled Rachel into to the seat next to him.

Puck snapped his fingers despite knowing he had the full attention of everyone in the room. "Hey!" he yelled, motioning at the gap that was between the others and Finn. "This shit stops now. We're a family. We're not supposed to let shit like this tear us apart. And if I'm not pissed, none of you have any right to be."

Just like that there was a shift in the room. Brittany wheeled Artie over to their side of the room. She was followed quickly by Santana and Quinn. By the time Mr. Schuster came into the room, the students were all seated together for the first time in months and talking excitedly about their prospects for Regionals and hopefully Nationals. Rachel leaned her head against Puck's shoulder and reveled in the solid warmth underneath her.

"Hey, where's Sam?" Mr. Schue asked suddenly. Rachel lifted her head, surprised that she hadn't noticed Puck's constant companion was missing. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Sam since shortly after lunch. He usually had a free period before they had glee and it wasn't uncommon for him to go off campus somewhere, especially with Puck but today Puck had been resting in the Nurse's office.

"He went to pick something up for Puck. He should be here," Santana murmured, glancing at her phone. "Any second now." Almost as if on cue, Sam appeared in the doorway trailed by two other people. Rachel was both happily surprised and bitterly disappointed to see Blaine and Kurt, respectively. Santana's eyes narrowed. "Can't you do anything right, Trouty Mouth? I thought the plan was to get Hogwarts. Where the hell did the princess come from?"

"Relax, Satan," Sam rolled his eyes. "Kurt comes in peace. And I thought I told you to stop calling me that." Santana snorted in response.

"Mr. Schue, would you mind if I said a few things?" Kurt asked. Their teacher looked between Kurt, Puck and Finn before shrugging.

"Should we be letting him in our secret hideout? He could be a spy," Brittany whispered to Artie. He shrugged, obviously confused about that as well.

"I'm not here as a spy," Kurt said. "I'm actually here to show a little humility for the first time in weeks. I owe you an apology, Puck. I'm sorry. I know I've been more than a little bitchy and intolerable towards you. And you didn't deserve any of that. Especially in light of everything that you've been through and what you've done for my family."

Puck shifted uneasily in his seat when all eyes landed on him. Rachel was happy to know that she wasn't the only one that was in the dark as to what Puck had done for Kurt and Finn.

"It's not a big deal," Puck explained. "Just let it go."

"You could have sued," Finn said, standing up next to his stepbrother. "You had a case. You could have pressed charges and sued our parents. But you didn't. Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that you didn't but I didn't understand why. Until yesterday."

"Someone want to clue the rest of us in," Santana spoke up. "What did you two brain trusts come up with as an answer?

"It's because most of our parents' money is going into paying tuition at Dalton. We definitely couldn't afford a lawsuit, especially one where we were sure to lose," Kurt replied, though his eyes remained locked on Puck. "Also a lot of those football scholarships that Finn has been looking into probably won't accept someone with a conviction for aggravated assault and attempted manslaughter."

Rachel's eyes widened. She leaned into Puck's shoulder. "That's why you didn't…." he met her eyes and she couldn't help the smile that formed. Even though neither Kurt nor Finn had been especially friendly towards Puck in recent months, he still cared enough to try to protect them both. It was in that moment that she finally understood that she was completely in love with him. And she probably always had been. "I love you."

A slow smile curved his lips and he bumped her nose with his briefly. "I love you too," he whispered in response before turning back to Kurt and Finn. "Look, it's over and it's done. Whatever the reasons. I think enough has changed because of that stupid accident. I didn't want to be the reason why things got even worse."

"Well, the only people things are about to get worse for are the Warblers. No offense to you, Blaine."

The Warbler smirked in amusement. "None taken."

"What do you mean, Kurt?"

"I mean that I'm transferring back to McKinley, effective today. The money we were using for tuition is going towards paying Puck's medical bills."

Puck opened his mouth to protest but Finn cut him off. "You forget that I know you, man. I know that your mom is working a lot of hours as it is. Your medical bills are probably going to make things even tighter and you don't need that. Especially since this whole thing really was my fault. So just let us do this. It's the least we can do."

"What about Karofsky?"

"We'll deal with that if it becomes an issue," Kurt shrugged. "Besides I believe someone once offered to form a perimeter like the secret service?"

Puck smiled a little. "You know you don't have to do this. Me and my family would've worked it out somehow."

"Your family is working it out," Finn corrected pointedly. "So just shut up, accept this and let's get back to picking a song list for Regionals." Puck raised an eyebrow but finally nodded.

"I want to dance again," Brittany spoke up. Mike nodded in agreement.

"Wait, how come you didn't want to talk in front of me but you have no problem taking about our actual performances in front of Blaine?" Kurt asked, with a small frown as he took a seat besides Mercedes.

"It's because Blaine is one of us," Brittany explained as if talking to a very slow child. "He's just confused."

"She's not entirely inaccurate," Blaine said, raising an eyebrow. "I am confused. Exactly how am I one of you guys?"

"Just roll with it," Santana replied with a grin. "You'll learn it's better to just go with Britt says. It sounds crazy as hell but there's always some kind of truth to it."

Blaine frowned. "So that time she told me her cat was stealing…."

"Yeah, we don't talk about that anymore," Sam cut him off. "He's a very bad cat. I still don't understand how a cat that fat could move so fast especially while dragging a gaming system."

Blaine blinked before shrugging. He sat down next to Sam and crossed his arms over his chest. "How about '_Rolling in the Deep'_? I think Santana's voice would be perfect and you guys are talented enough to work out a dance routine to it."

Puck leaned back in his seat with a satisfied smile. Rachel attempted to look stern but she knew she failed as she couldn't keep her own smile off her face at the sight of his obvious joy. "What are you so happy about?"

"I told you I wanted to keep Blaine."

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "You know I'm starting to think that you and Brittany might be the smartest people in this glee club. That and you two actually plan these things."

"There is a method to our madness."

"So I see," Rachel whispered, kissing him on the cheek. She turned her attention back to the rest of the glee club that were still tossing out song suggestions, including Blaine. With Kurt back in New Directions, she was pretty sure they had Regionals in the bag. As for Blaine, he wasn't in New Directions but she had a feeling that it was only a matter of time. She'd seen what Puck and Brittany were capable of when they put their minds to something. And apparently they'd both decided that Blaine was destined to be a gleek. He was as good as theirs. They were so going to kill at Nationals.

* * *

*Hope this chapter didn't disappoint.


	9. Britt and Puck Save the Day

**Summary:** The journey of one Rachel Barbra Berry as she learns that there is more to life than just dreams of Broadway and life outside of Lima thanks to a few of her friends.

**Pairings:** Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Faberry friendship, Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, hints of Sam/Santana

**Warnings:** This contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did there would be many more songs featuring Santana, Puck and Artie. There would also be a lot more Mike and his wondrous abs.

**Author's Note:** Not too much to say this time around. Glad you all are still enjoying the story. This chapter is slightly more cracky than the other ones, if the title didn't give that away entirely. So I hope you all enjoy. Ciao!

* * *

**Britt and Puck Saved the Day aka The Time Quinn Was Not a Crack Addicted Ninja**

Rachel cleared her throat as she paced in front of her audience. She was aware of their eyes on her as they waited to address this serious and troubling concern. Finally, after having built up enough dramatic tension, she whirled on her heel to face them.

"Ladies," she paused at the not at all subtle throat clearing. "Ladies, and gentleman, we are here today to discuss an issue of the utmost concern and importance."

"Really, Berry? Utmost?"

"Noah!" Rachel hissed in his direction. "This is a very serious matter."

"No, it's not. It's your crazy working overtime," Puck replied, grumpily. "I can't believe Sam just left me here. You guys know I can't move that well. You do this crap on purpose."

Brittany patted him on the shoulder, which just served to make him pout more. Ordinarily, Rachel would have been more concerned with his sadness but he was physically fine. She had more pressing concerns at the moment. Namely one Quinn Fabray. Sensing that Brittany was keeping Puck occupied, she turned to address Santana and Tina once more.

"I'm sure you've all noticed that Quinn has been acting oddly lately."

"If by odd you mean that's she constantly got 'appointments' and 'things to do' instead of hanging out with us," Tina said, complete with finger quotes. "Or the time when we ran into her at the mall after she dumped us and when she saw us pretty much bolted in the other direction."

"Exactly! Something is going on with Quinn and I think it's time we got to the bottom of it," Rachel agreed. "And as the four of us are her friends, it is our female responsibility to help her."

"I thought our female responsibility was our…."

"If you say the P-word I promise I will run out of here," Puck interrupted Santana. The Latina smirked. "I hate you all. Besides, has it ever occurred to you that maybe Quinn has a boyfriend or something?"

"If she had a boyfriend why wouldn't she just tell us?" Tina countered. "We all have boyfriends." Santana raised her hand and was promptly ignored. It wasn't their fault she was too stupid to realize that she was practically dating Sam at this point. "Quinn would tell us if she were dating someone."

"Rachel's right, there is something serious going on."

Puck huffed and rolled his eyes. He sat back in his seat muttering about crazy females and stupid pointless plots. Brittany leaned over and whispered something in his ear that caused a smile to spread across his face. He pulled away and nodded in agreement with whatever she said. Rachel started to say something as they both left the room shortly after their hushed conversation. Despite the feeling of terror that filled her at the idea of Brittany and Puck unsupervised, she was just relieved that he would be occupied while she, Santana and Tina figured out what was going on with Quinn.

"Alright, ladies, let's get down to business!"

* * *

"How much longer do we have to sit here?" Tina griped, shifting in place for the tenth time that hour alone. Rachel repressed the urge to glare at the normally sweet tempered Goth.

"Seriously, midget. How does hiding in the bushes help us figure out what Barbie is up too?"

Rachel huffed and glared at her two friends. "We're not hiding in the bushes! We're merely staking out the parking lot from the most strategic location while we wait for Quinn to leave. She didn't drive this morning and we need to see who picks her up so we have an idea of where she's going."

Santana snorted but was blissfully silent…. For five minutes at least. Then both she and Tina were complaining once again. She was seriously considering giving it up for today, if only to get away from them when Santana sat up straight and cocked her head to the side in surprise.

"Is that..."

Rachel leaned over her shoulder and also frowned in confusion. "Noah, Brittany and David Karofsky?"

She blinked and then rubbed her eyes but nothing could erase the sight of her boyfriend, Brittany and the enemy sitting together at one of the tables. Nothing could also erase the sight of the enemy crying.

"Did Brittany and Puck just make Karofsky cry?" Tina exclaimed. "And if they did, why couldn't they do that while he was being a jerk to Kurt?"

Rachel just shook her head in speechless wonder. Part of her told her to find out just what the hell those two were up to but the other part was distracted by their original target who was exiting the building. She too seemed to be momentarily confused by the trio sitting together but it didn't distract her from her mission. She paused in the parking lot and answered her ringing phone. Whoever was on the other line was not someone she wanted to hear from as her face shut down. She was tense and they could clearly see her pacing back and forth while talking frantically. Finally, she slammed the phone shut and put it back in her bag.

The three girls were going to jump out of their hiding spaces and confront her when Mercedes and Kurt walked past her. She practically attacked them at that moment. Rachel couldn't hear the conversation but she saw them nodding their heads in scared agreement and leading her towards Kurt's car.

"Ok, did Barbie seriously just ditch us for Kurt and Mercedes?" Santana snarled. "She's so out of the Glirl club."

Rachel narrowed her eyes. She was in agreement with Santana but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else going on. Who was on the phone that made Quinn so angry? Where she was going with Kurt and Mercedes? And why were Puck and Brittany making Karofsky cry? Ok, that last part had nothing to do with her mission but she was seriously concerned about that.

"Focus, Rachel," she whispered to herself. She turned to Tina and Santana who were looking at her expectantly. "Look, its Kurt and Mercedes. There aren't a lot of places they go to hang out after school. Let's check the mall and if they're not there then we go to Breadstix. When we find Quinn, we force her to tell us what's going on once and for all."

The two girls agreed and they made their way to Tina's car. Rachel cast one last look over her shoulder at Karofsky who was now openly sobbing on Brittany's shoulder. The blonde was looking slightly panicked while Puck was sitting as far as from them as possible on the benches. Satisfied that they were not in any danger, or at least it seemed that way, Rachel was content with continuing with their Save Quinn mission.

A half an hour later, Rachel was rethinking their somewhat overzealous approach to this mission. They found Mercedes and Kurt seated in the food court at the mall. Santana went charging over to them and had Kurt pinned against one of the pillars while Tina was giving Mercedes a look that promised pain if she tried to stop this. Rachel supposed they could have gotten through this without resorting to physical violence and threats but really it was best to just indulge Santana every now and then. It made life easier for everyone.

"Where is Quinn?"

Kurt blinked and rolled his eyes. Impressive. "You're seriously ruining my new Prada vest for this?"

Santana frowned and glanced over her shoulder at Rachel. The brunette shook her head and motioned for her best friend to release Kurt. "Sorry about that. San just gets a bit carried away," Rachel apologized, trying to smooth things over. Kurt remained less than impressed. "Do you happen to know where Quinn is?"

"She accosted us in the parking lot, not unlike what just occurred, and told us to drive her home. Halfway there she got a phone call and then told us to drop her off where we were. We waited for a few minutes and another car pulled up. She got in and drove off with whoever it was."

"You didn't see who she got in the car with?"

"We didn't think it was a big deal," Mercedes shrugged. "What's going? You guys have been like super tight since New Years. I figured you all would know everything about each other."

"We thought that too," Rachel replied, sadly. There was clearly something going on with Quinn but for whatever reason she wasn't sharing it with her friends. That hurt. A lot. Because Rachel was finally used to the concept of having friends and the fact that one of those friends didn't trust her was heart breaking.

"Don't worry so much, midget," Santana whispered, putting an arm around her. "We'll figure out what's going on with Q-ball and royally beat her ass for making us worry. Ok?"

"Ok," Rachel sighed.

* * *

"Girls, Noah and Sam are here," Hiram's voice wafted up the stairs to Rachel's room where she and Santana were sprawled across her bed brainstorming on the next move. Rachel was midway through attempting to convince Santana that kidnapping Quinn and locking her in a porta-a-potty was not the most ideal way to confront their friend when the boys appeared in her room. Puck was panting slightly from the exertion of taking the stairs but she wisely kept her mouth shut. They came dangerously close to breaking up the week before about his obviously stupid obsession with going upstairs when he was clearly still walking with difficulty. It took four hours for him to calm down long enough to actually talk to her. She was not looking forward to a repeat of that conversation.

"You guys still plotting?" he asked, as he and Sam got comfortable.

"Have you tried locking her in the janitor's closet?" Sam suggested. Santana smiled in his direction and Rachel flung a pillow his way. She didn't need the not-a-couple colluding with one another and making her life more difficult.

"Have you tried talking with her?" Puck asked. "I mean its Quinn. You're making this whole thing into a cloak and daggers situation. Have you tried just asking her what's she been up to?"

"Duh, Puckerman. She's been dodging us for the past two weeks! She even manages to duck us at school. It's annoying!"

Puck shook his head and started to reply when his phone vibrated. He checked it quickly and smirked at the message he received. "Well, lovely ladies and Sam, it's been wonderful hanging out with you but I have to go."

"You just got here," Rachel protested. He smiled softly and kissed her forehead.

"I know but I have something to care of at Blaine's house. I'll see you tomorrow at school." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips before making his way downstairs. The second he was gone, the two girls turned on Sam.

"What's he up to? You know don't you?"

Sam shrugged, not at all worried about being trapped in a room with two girls who redefined the word 'insanity'. He leaned back on the computer chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't know and I don't want to know. All I know is that they practically kidnapped Karofsky this afternoon and had him bawling for like an hour. Then they took him to the mall where he spent another hour practically crying all over Kurt's apparently very new and very expensive wardrobe. Then they split up but only after making plans to meet up and go to Blaine's house for some reason that I seriously don't want to know about."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. All this sounded very suspicious and worrisome but she knew better than to interfere. Besides, she had more than enough on her plate with Quinn's mysterious behavior. She didn't have time to try and figure out the anomaly that was Brittany and Puck. At any rate, one or both of them would crack eventually and tell them what they were planning. So she ignored it for the third time and went back to plotting her next move with Santana while Sam ignored them and watched _The Backup Plan_.

"This is seriously so bad that it hurts but I can't stop watching it," Sam muttered at one point. "How are you actually sitting through this without cringing?"

"We're cringing but it helps that Alex O'Loughlin is pretty damn hot."

Sam frowned and cocked his head to the side staring at the actor. "I don't see it."

"Keep telling yourself that, Sammy."

He glared at them for a moment but soon his attention was back on the screen. Rachel smiled. It was the little moments that made friends such a great thing to have around.

* * *

"I officially quit!" Tina announced, dropping her lunch bag onto the table with dramatic flourish. "Either Quinn has become a part time ninja or we seriously suck at life!"

"I cannot believe she managed to avoid us for like every single period for the past three days!" Santana agreed, shaking her head. "I think its drugs."

"What?"

"No, she has to be on like crack. It makes you move super fast like that. And it makes you all weird and secretive. She's definitely on crack," Santana said, firmly. Rachel was starting to think that Santana was on crack. Before she could share this theory with her darling best friend, the others arrived at the table, including their prodigal friend and an unexpected face.

"Blaine?" Rachel asked.

Their Warbler friend only frowned grumpily and sat down at their lunch table. It took Rachel a few moments to realize that he wasn't wearing his uniform. He was wearing regular clothing and his hair was ungelled. He looked almost… normal.

"Why is Hogwarts here?" Santana asked, voicing Rachel and Tina's confusion.

Brittany beamed as she took her seat next to the still frowning Blaine. "He's one of us now."

Santana put a hand over Brittany's gently. "Sweetie, I know you like Blaine and you want him to be with us but we talked about this. You cannot kidnap a human being and force him to do your bidding. They have laws against that kind of thing. And the police really only look at it as an accident if you do it once. Twice and it's a felony."

Rachel's eyes widened. Sometimes she wondered what her friends did before they all started hanging out. And then there were times when she was glad she didn't know. It would probably be to her benefit later that she wouldn't have to lie in a court of law.

"I didn't kidnap him, San," Brittany replied, patiently as Santana was the one in the wrong here. "Right, Blaine?"

"No, they didn't kidnap me," Blaine answered, though he was still frowning. "Apparently, I go to this school now."

"Since when?"

"Since Tuesday night. That's when I got a text message from Puck telling me that Mike needed to talk to me about something important. Should've known better but I trusted Mike."

Mike shrugged. Blaine rolled his eyes.

"What happened?"

"Well while I was out dealing with the dancing Asian traitor over there, my parents were visited by the McKinley High School choir director and recruitment team of New Directions. The team that basically consists of Kurt, Puck and Brittany. Their pitch included pointing out that the Warblers only won Sectionals because Kurt was there and now he's not. And that we couldn't win Regionals on our own. According to the so called recruitment team, it would be a 'fucking smart idea to switch him to a team of proven winners'. They also pointed out the cost effectiveness of switching from Dalton to McKinley."

Puck and Brittany exchanged entirely too smug looks and shrugged. "But I thought you transferred to Dalton because of the bullying at your own school. Don't you parents know about what happened with Kurt?" Tina asked.

"We took care of that too," Puck grinned.

"And by took care of that, you mean….?"

'They forced Karofsky into coming out," Blaine responded for them. Rachel's jaw dropped. Karofsky was gay? "They basically annoyed the hell out of him until he confessed. And then they made him apologize to Kurt until he was forgiven. Then they made Kurt tell my parents that the bullying was over and had been addressed. And he did it because Puck is exploiting the fact that they didn't press charges against Finn."

"Whatever works," Puck shrugged again. "And you know you're happy, Blaine. So just drop the act. Grumpy dwarf doesn't fit you. You're supposed to be Happy."

"For the last time, I'm not a dwarf!" Blaine retorted, though a smile was spreading across his face. "Also would it kill you to just let me have my moment?"

"Probably yes," Puck smirked. He looked at the still silent Quinn and that damn smile got bigger and more evil. Was it wrong that Rachel was a little turned on? "Oh, Q. How's Nick?"

Quinn choked on the soda that she had just taken a sip from. Artie thumped her on the back and helped her clear her throat. "How is who?"

"Nicholas Acosta. Does that ring a bell?" Brittany asked, innocently.

"Or should we say sweetie pie?"

"I personally preferred pookie-bear."

Quinn buried her burning red face in her hands. "How?"

"Nick's mom is my physical therapist," Puck grinned, stealing one of Sam's fries. The blonde was too busy laughing at the look on Quinn's face to even notice. Not that he would've tried to stop him if he had noticed. Rachel knew that Sam had long ago resigned himself to half an order of fries whenever around Puck.

"Dr. Connors is his mother?" Quinn moaned.

"Yeah," Mike patted her on the shoulder in false sympathy. "You can try and deny it but we saw you on Saturday when you met him for lunch."

"Secret's out, Q," Puck smirked. "You've got a boyfriend. Quinn and Nick sitting in a hospital supply closet… let's just hope k-i-s-s-i-n-g was all that was going on in there."

"Didn't sound like it," Sam added.

"I hate you all so much!" she hissed without any real heat or venom to it. Rachel would've laughed if she wasn't busy feeling betrayed by Quinn. The former head Cheerio caught the disappointed and sad looks of the only three that apparently didn't know about Nick. "It's not what you think!"

"It's not that you don't trust us?" Santana snapped.

"No! Of course not. I totally trust you all. It's just that he's… well… older than me. And he's been so worried about us being out in the open that I think I caught his paranoia. I was so worried that you guys wouldn't approve of him. I'm sorry."

"How much older?" Rachel asked, ignoring the rest of the statement.

"He just turned twenty last week," she replied with a bit of red creeping into her cheeks.

Rachel hesitated. He was twenty and Quinn was barely seventeen. Her gaze flickered towards Tina and Santana who were both looking to her for the answer. Rachel found it amusing that she didn't even have friends five months ago and suddenly she was their leader. She finally settled for looking at Puck. He nodded. And that was that.

"Quinn, we don't care about that. We just want you to be happy. As long as he's making you happy then his age doesn't matter… that much."

"Really?"

"Yes," Rachel assured her. Quinn let out a happy squeal before pouncing on her and Santana as they were the closest.

"Oh goddamn it! Before I started rolling with you, Berry, this hugging crap hardly ever happened!" she pulled away from Quinn with a disgusted frown. "And seriously, Q. That was the big secret? We thought something seriously bad was going down. We thought you had a drug problem."

"Actually you thought she had a drug problem," Tina corrected.

"Well, it's better than thinking she was part ninja!"

"That would be pretty bad…. Damn it!" Puck trailed off as he caught sight of something over Sam's shoulder. "Britt, Blaine we gotta roll."

Blaine looked up and groaned. "This is your fault, Puck!"

"Got to admit, he has a point," Brittany added, packing up her belongings quickly. Puck was too busy doing the same to do more than flip them the finger quickly. Rachel looked away from the trio to see Karofsky making his way to the table. By the time she looked back to her boyfriend and friends, they were already halfway across the courtyard. Clearly Puck was not letting something like being in the hospital only the month before stop him from racing towards the school. Rachel hadn't seen him move that fast since before the accident. If she wasn't so confused, she would've been proud.

"What the hell…."

"Was that about?" Santana finished Rachel's question.

"Apparently since they forced him into coming out, Karofsky now views them as his new best friends," Sam snickered. "He's been texting Puck and Blaine non stop for the past two days."

"I thought you didn't know what was going on," Santana pointed out.

"I didn't know then. I knew they were up to something. My part in this whole thing was to keep you occupied so you didn't start wondering where Britt and Puck were. They did all of this on their own."

Rachel shook her head but turned her attention back to her lunch. She had long been of the belief that Puck and Brittany were probably the savviest members of their group and they just proved her right. It worried her how much they managed to accomplish in the span of four days. She was just grateful that neither one of them wanted world domination. They didn't want that right? She muttered a few choice curses under her breath before kicking Sam under the table.

"What was that for?"

"You and your damn Syfy movies!"

"I don't know why you guys are so mad," Artie spoke up. "I mean everything is just how it's supposed to be."

Rachel hated to admit it but he was right. Quinn had a boyfriend and she seemed happy with him. And that meant that she was less likely to start pining for either Sam or heaven forbid Finn again. Santana and Sam were still dancing around being together but it was only a matter of time before they got their act together. Chang-squared and Bartie continued strong as did Puckleberry. And now they had Blaine with them full time. She supposed that Artie was right. Everything was exactly how it should be. There was just one little thought that wouldn't go away.

"Does this mean that Karofsky is going to join Glee?"

* * *

*The end for now. Please forgive any typos or mistakes found in this chapter. I tried to edit to the best of my ability but I'm pretty much running off of Dayquil right now. The bright side is when I'm sick I write a lot. The down side is that it's not usually in any language anyone can understand. LOL.


	10. Rachel's Terrible, No Good, Rotten Day

**Summary:** Rachel has always lived for her future. Fortunately, she has her fellow gleeks and a certain Mohawk sporting badass to teach her about living (and loving) in the present.

**Pairings:** Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Faberry friendship, Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, hints of Sam/Santana

**Warnings:** This contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did there would be many more songs featuring Santana, Puck and Artie. There would also be a lot more Mike and his wondrous abs.

**Author's Note:** This is the story formerly known as _Being Rachel Berry_. I felt that it needed a bit of a change. Hope it's not too annoying that it's changed. And I hope that you enjoy this chapter. I seem to be on a roll as far as this story is concerned. I actually have two more ideas for this one. So yay, more updates! Also, I'm warning you now this chapter contains more fluff than should be humanly possible.

* * *

**Rachel's Terrible, No Good, Rotten, Horrible, Wonderful, Awesome Day**

Today was going down in history as quite possibly the worst day ever. It was the type of day where you wished that you never got out of bed. She was already resigned to that fact and it wasn't even 3 o'clock yet. Part of Rachel wanted to blame Puck. Today wouldn't seem so bad if he were here to offer her that smile or some completely inane comment or his very lovely arms for a hug. But he wasn't here. And he wouldn't be here until at least tomorrow. That alone was reason enough for to hate today. All the other stuff was just proof that Lady Luck was a bitch.

Her day started off completely wrong and escalated from there. During the night, her alarm clock was somehow pulled loose from the wall thus failing in its appointed mission of waking her up in the morning. She was forced to skip her morning exercise routine in order to accommodate eating breakfast. She failed notice the note from one of her fathers explaining that the toaster was sparking and liable to leave burns until after she had already inserted her honey oat bagel. Her plan to make a cup of tea to take with her failed similarly as their tea kettle which had a small crack on the bottom chose that moment to increase said crack in a big, gaping hole. She discovered this when she lifted the kettle full of boiling water.

Deciding that the world was against her eating breakfast at home, she decided that she would find breakfast at school. Only she was too late for the school breakfast because her car wouldn't start. Both her fathers were already at work. She was too far behind schedule to call Sam or Quinn for a ride. And her wonderful boyfriend that lived close to her home and would've had enough time to pick her up was not available. So she was forced to resort to public transportation. She took the bus where she was forced to endure a potentially morbidly obese four year old boy tugging on her hair while a man old enough to be her great grandfather leered at her bare legs. Maybe Santana had a point about jeans after all. She would give this subject a little more careful consideration.

This careful consideration, of course, came sooner than expected. She hadn't even made it through the doors of the school when she received her first slushy facial of the New Year. And it was her least favorite flavor as well. Perfect. She shivered as the cold ice dripped down her shirt. She was vaguely aware of her chosen tormentor laughing at her misery when the sound was abruptly cut off. She wiped the ice away from her soaked bangs to see Dave Karofsky pinning one of the hockey team members to a locker. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"What the fuck, Karofsky? Since when did you care if we slushy the school freak?"

Karofsky smirked. "Think of this as your friendly reminder of what happens to people who mess with Puckerman's girl. I thought he was very clear on that issue."

The other teen snorted. "As if anyone is afraid of Puckerman anymore. He's pretty much a gimp and he's gone soft. Don't know which one is worse."

"So then why'd you wait until he wasn't here to attack his girlfriend?"

As expected the hockey moron had no response. Rachel continued to shiver. She almost forgot what this felt like. She just managed to shake off her stupor when she heard the two horrified gasps behind her. She whirled around to face Blaine and Brittany who both appeared murderous as well as surprised.

"Who did this?" Blaine asked, gently.

"It's being taken care of," Rachel replied, shakily pointing to where Karofsky still had the hockey captain pinned to the locker. Blaine nodded, visibly impressed. "It's not a good thing! He could get in trouble for this."

"You're worth it," Blaine shrugged, as if this statement was perfectly acceptable. He really was spending too much time around Puck.

"Come on," Brittany interrupted. "Let's get you changed."

"I don't have any extra clothes," Rachel sighed. Again, this was so Puck's fault. When he was here no one dared to think about throwing a slushy at her. The one who did found himself ostracized, and possibly transferred, after Puck took that hit for her… two days after he returned to school. He spent the rest of the day wearing the ruined clothes, pouting and gaining sympathy because of his injuries. Even though he managed to catch a cold from the whole ordeal, Puck claimed it was worth it to see the "asshole that dared to fuck with you humiliated". Rachel really, really missed her boyfriend right about now.

"I think Quinn might still have some clothes in her locker," Brittany's voice dragged her away from her Puckless depression. "You two are like the same size."

Brittany was right, per the usual. Quinn did keep an extra change of clothing in her old locker in the Cheerios' locker room. Unfortunately for Rachel, they were jeans and Quinn was definitely a few inches taller than her. Still despite the fact that they dragged a little on the floor, Rachel had to admit that there was a certain appeal to jeans. They were Jacob repellant at any rate. That was a definite plus.

Rachel thought maybe that would mark the end of her horrible day and maybe, just maybe the rest of the day would go smoothly. Rachel was wrong. As soon as she emerged from the bathroom, she found that Karofsky had detention for attacking the hockey captain. And no matter how much he tried to assure her that he was fine with it because it was his decision, Rachel felt really, really bad. Then to make matters worse she got a C on a math test that yesterday she was sure she aced. At lunch, she realized that she forgot to pick up her bagged lunch and was left with only carrot sticks for her meal. In gym, they played dodge ball. Rachel really sucked at that game. Her main trouble was following through on the name of the game, dodging balls. And then it was time for glee, where she would be practicing her duet… with Finn.

Though he had made amends with Puck for everything that occurred both before and after the accident, Rachel still wasn't comfortable singing with Finn. It reminded her of the year she wasted chasing after him when she should've been with Puck. It also reminded her that Puck wasn't there. She never thought she would be one of those girls that needed their boyfriends to get through the day. Then again she never thought she'd have a boyfriend quite like Puck. Her fantasizing about her missing hot Jewish boyfriend came to an abrupt end when she felt a sharp pain on her foot. Of course, Finn just stepped on her.

"Hudson, watch where your gigantic paws are flailing!" Santana hissed, stalking over to her best friend. Rachel looked down at the hurting appendage and sighed. "You ok?"

Rachel mustered a weak smile. "Just need this day to be over with. It's sucked since I woke up. I really don't want to know how it could get worse than this."

"Aw, New Directions, so nice to see that nothing has changed in a year."

Rachel's eyes widened at the new, and very unwelcome, voice. And Rachel learned a valuable lesson in that moment. Never wonder how it could get worse. But life had an extraordinary way of finding new ways to mess with you. And in this instance life was totally a big kid with a magnifier glass and Rachel was the ant. There was no other reason to give for why Jesse St. James was now standing in their choir room.

"What the hell are you doing here?" All eyes in the room flickered in surprise to Tina. She shrugged off their wonder and continued to frown at Jesse. "What? Like I want the douche back here anymore than the rest of you."

"It's official," Santana murmured. "Everyone is spending entirely too much time with Puck." She threw a glare at Jesse. "So why are you back?"

"And how soon can you go?" Kurt added.

Jesse smirked. "I just wanted to drop in and see some old friends. I learned a lot in our time apart and I just wanted to come and apologize."

"Not accepted," Santana snapped. "You can go."

Jesse tilted his head to the side. "Well this is new. I never thought about a team up of Santana and Rachel. Interesting. But anyway, Rachel, I came to say that I'm sorry. I've seen the error of my ways and I realized that I still have feelings for you."

That was it. She was officially done with today. It kicked her one too many times and she was officially over it. Luckily, Jesse's announcement elicited several choice responses from her fellow gleeks. She took advantage of the chaos and confusion to slip out the room in search of somewhere quiet.

And that's how she found herself seated Indian style on the bleachers (another advantage of jeans), staring at her phone like it was a life line. All day she wanted to call him. But she didn't want to come across as needy and clingy. This was the first time they were separated since they'd been together. She didn't want to be the girlfriend that constantly called, whining about her day without him. But damned if that wasn't exactly what she wanted to do at the moment. Just as she was working up the nerve to swallow her own pride, her phone rang. _Puckzilla_ flashed across the caller-id and she couldn't help but laugh.

"How did you change it back? You haven't been here for three days and I'm certain that my phone had you listed with your proper name the other day."

She shivered at the warm chuckle on the other side of the line. "You underestimate me, baby. I have my ways."

"Who did it? Brittany, Sam or Blaine?"

"I don't know. Really could've been either one. They were all on notice." Rachel laughed softly, closing her eyes and relishing in this moment. "What's wrong, Rach?"

"Why do you think something's wrong?"

"You sound like something's wrong. Plus, I just got like three 911 texts from Britt, Sam and Artie. So you want to tell me what's up?"

She sighed. "Just had a bad day," she hated how stupid she sounded. How weak she sounded. "I miss you, Noah."

"I miss you too, babe. I don't think I like this being away from you thing. I think we need to stop that."

She smiled brightly. "Yeah. I hope you're coming home soon."

"Well, if you keep smiling like that, it'll be sooner than you think."

Rachel's brow furrowed and she looked up slightly confused. She heard him laugh but this time it was decidedly clearer than it should've been through the phone. Her jaw dropped as she whirled around to face her boyfriend.

"Noah?"

"In the flesh," he smirked. A wider smile than she thought possible spread across her face. He lifted a hand to stroke her cheek gently. "Now this is totally worth coming to school for."

Rachel disconnected the call before flinging herself into Puck's welcoming arms. As soon as his arms wrapped around her body, Rachel felt herself relax. She was at peace. She buried her face on his chest and breathed in everything that made him Puck. She desperately loved this man. She loved everything about him. And she loved that he knew her well enough to know that she needed him today.

"Rach, are you wearing jeans?"

She glanced down at her legs, shaking her head. "Yeah, they're Quinn's."

"Why are we wearing Q's pants? Please tell me it happened how I'm imagining it. Because that's a beautiful thing."

She giggled and slapped him on the arm. "Noah! It most certainly did not happen the way you're imaging it. It's a long stupid story."

"Ah, so it's part of what's got you so down you're ditching practice? Talk to me, Rach. What's wrong?"

Rachel moaned and sat back down on the bleachers, pulling him with her. They ended up in some bizarre contorted mess of tangled limbs, but she was beyond caring. She had Puck. And he was here and listening to her whining about her horrible day…. Wait…

"Noah, you're letting me be selfish again!" she chastised, smacking him lightly on the chest. "How's your grandmother?"

He frowned and looked down at his hands. "Not so good, babe. The doctors don't think she's going to be around much longer."

"Oh, Noah," Rachel hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry."

Puck may protest and pretend but the truth was he loved his family very much. After his father left, Puck's grandmother stepped in and helped raise him and his sister. Rachel knew that her passing away would devastate Puck. But he was still here listening to her problems... she really, really loved him.

"How is your mom holding up? And Sarah?"

"Mom is… mom," he laughed a little. "You know her. She's making plans. Getting everything in order. Sarah is being moody, emo and distant. So you know... everything is normal there." He paused, chewing on his lip slightly. "Nana made me promise her something."

"Oh? What was that?"

"You see I told her about this really amazing and hot Jewish girlfriend that I have and she made me promise that I would never let her go," Puck smirked. She noticed his hand was hovering nervously over his shirt pocket. "She gave me the ring my grandfather gave her when he proposed. He told me I should give it to my girlfriend when I knew that we were forever."

Rachel's heart skipped a beat as he pulled the ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto her fingers without hesitation. She glanced down at the simple diamond. It was small but she could almost feel the love held in the ring. "Noah," she whispered, tearfully.

"I knew we were forever two months ago. I just didn't have the ring," he gave her a shaky smile. "I don't want you think that we're engaged or anything or that I expect anything from you. I just want you to know that… I love you, Rach. I do. You've been by my side since my accident. You're what's gotten me through all this recovery shit. I just needed you to know that."

"You going to give rings to all the people who stayed by your side? Because I have to be honest, I don't think diamonds are really Sam's thing."

He gave a surprised bark of laughter before kissing her forehead gently. "Nah, Sammy will just have to settle for manly hugs and pats on the back. And Satan has already claimed our first born child."

"That's fair, since I called dibs on theirs like months ago," Rachel replied breezily. She snuggled deeper into Puck's embrace and held up her left hand.

The ring fit perfectly. And it looked like it belonged there. She knew she had a tendency to go overboard with planning her future but she didn't think she was completely insane when she saw herself married to Puck. And she knew she wasn't completely insane because he seemed to totally agree. Today couldn't suck entirely if it led her to this moment.

"We might want to go back now."

Rachel groaned. "Do we have to?"

"Yeah, we really do. That is unless you want to spend the rest of the week cleaning up the bits of Jesse that Satan ripped apart."

While the idea did sound appealing, especially the last part, Rachel had to concede that he had a point. She pulled away from him only slightly to look him in the eye. "Is Santana going to be the only who's attacking Jesse?"

"Babe, I hate the douche for what he did but I'm sure that San and the others have that covered. As far as everything else, it doesn't matter. He fucked up and broke your heart. He let you go. I'm not stupid enough to make that mistake. I got you now and I'm not letting you go until you want me to."

Rachel leaned back into his arms and met his lips for a soft kiss. She poured all of her emotions into the kiss. Judging by the arms that held her tightly in place and the soft swipe of tongue against her bottom lip, her message was understood. She wasn't letting him go again. She made that mistake before. He was everything she needed and wanted.

After a few more moments reacquainting herself with her boyfriend, Rachel found herself walking back to the choir room… where nothing really changed. Jesse and Finn were still arguing back and forth, Will was trying to figure out how Jesse got in the building in the first place and the other gleeks were loudly taking bets on who would throw a punch first: Jesse, Finn or Santana. All conversations stopped once Rachel walked back in the room, hand in hand with Puck. Jesse's jaw dropped as he took in the couple.

"Puckerman?" Jesse repeated, incredulously. He tilted his head to the side as if contemplating the scene. "I suppose that does make a certain amount of sense. Though I thought it would take you years to figure that one out."

"Did everyone think we were going to hook up?" Puck asked, skeptically.

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Please, Puck. You were hooked on Rachel since the beginning."

"Even I saw it," Sam snorted.

"Shove it, Chicken Little," Puck retorted. "What's that saying about glass houses and rocks again?"

Sam flushed, eyes darting to Santana. Luckily, the Latina was too busy glaring at Jesse to notice. Rachel shook her head. They were going to have to intervene because this dance that Sam and Santana were doing around one another was just getting aggravating. Speaking of aggravation…

"Why are you still here?" Rachel asked, finally looking in Jesse's direction. "We're obviously not going to get back together. Don't you have any other lives you can ruin?"

Jesse simply smirked. "I actually am all out of lives to ruin but I can help you ruin some lives if you let me."

"Oh, really?" Santana arched an eyebrow.

"Nationals are a little over a month away," Jesse replied. "I can help you win. Remember I was in Vocal Adrenaline. We won Nationals four years in a row. I can help you win this year."

"Why should we trust you?" Will asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "We were foolish enough to trust you before and that blew up in our faces."

"And all over Rachel," Brittany added.

Jesse had the good graces to look slightly remorseful. "I know. Think of this as my way of making amends."

The gleeks all exchanged glances before looking to Rachel. Puck squeezed her hand. "It's up to you, babe. He's got a point but he's also a lying, heart crushing douche bag."

Rachel smiled up at him. She let go of his hand to walk over to Jesse. She stared up at her ex-boyfriend for a moment. She really wondered what she saw in him in the first place. He was an arrogant, pompous, self centered jerk. But he was also good at what he did and a proven winner. For that reason alone, she held out her hand.

"You screw us over again and whatever Santana has planned for you will be the least of your concerns," she promised. Jesse swallowed nervously but shook her hand. "Oh, and one more thing." She lifted a leg and kneed him in the groin. "That was for the baby chickens!"

She walked back to Puck's side, returning Santana's high five on the way over. Puck slung an arm around her shoulders even as he laughed at Jesse's obvious misery and pain. She wrapped her arms around his waist and relaxed. The ring on her finger glittered with the movement and she couldn't help but smile once more. This was definitely going down as one of the best days ever.

* * *

*Not responsible for any cavities gained while reading this chapter.


	11. Dance, Dance

**Summary:** Rachel has always lived for her future. Fortunately, she has her fellow gleeks and a certain Mohawk sporting badass to teach her about living (and loving) in the present.

**Pairings:** Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Faberry friendship, Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, hints of Samtana, mentioned Brittana

**Warnings:** This contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did there would be many more songs featuring Santana, Puck and Artie. There would also be a lot more Mike and his wondrous abs.

**Author's Note: **So as I promised, I'm here with the next chapter of Living for the First Time. Please excuse any typos you may come across. I literally wrote this on a boat and a plane and then typed it while I was fighting off the flu this weekend. So quality might not be there, lol. This chapter is longer than others and as a result was actually broken into two parts. I didn't end with a cliffhanger, so no worries there. But well… you'll see. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Dance, Dance**

"You know," Jesse started, though it was clear that no one was paying any actual attention to anything he was saying. "I'm really not sure why Shelby ever thought you guys were a credible threat to Vocal Adrenaline."

"What are you complaining about now, St. Whines-a-Lot?" Tina asked, rolling her eyes in Jesse's direction.

"This," he waved his arms around the room dramatically. Rachel blinked. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary. They were all the in choir room waiting for Will to join them. He told them he would be running late because Figgins wanted to see him before practice. So really nothing was out of the ordinary. She continued to blink in Jesse's direction. "Rachel, I'm really surprised at you!"

"Me? Why?"

"Because last year, you would've seen the problem here too. But now you're just as lazy and complacent as the rest of them," Jesse hissed. "Nationals are in two weeks and you haven't even picked out a set list yet. None of you are focused on this at all. It's like you want to lose again."

"We don't want to lose," Rachel snapped, not even sure why she was bothering to defend their actions. "We do have other priorities, you know. Not all of us are fortunate enough to coast through high school on the merits of our glee club's lack of morals."

"Oh, yeah, your priorities. Lopez, Barbie and the new fat girl whose name I don't really care to know are babbling about being prom queens. Dopey and his merry band of idiots have been talking about video games. The drama queen over there has been pining over other gay who is apparently trying to bore a hole in the wall with his glare alone. You, Aretha and Hello Kitty have been giggling like immature children since you got here. And oh yeah, Puckerman is taking a nap! During practice."

Rachel's eyes flickered to where her boyfriend and Brittany were seated on the other side of the room. While Jesse was somewhat correct about Puck lying down during practice, Rachel seriously doubted he was asleep. She could tell by the tense set of his mouth that he was actually in a lot of pain. Sam sent a text shortly before school ended to tell her that Puck was being his usual stubborn, pigheaded self and insisting on going through with rehearsals despite the migraine that was apparently steadily building since that morning. She knew the headaches would be a permanent part of his life. She knew it was a small price to pay for him being alive and here. However it was one thing to know it and another to watch as he winced in pain. Rachel's heart broke as she watched him suffer when he suffered so much already this year.

Sometimes, it was almost like she almost forgot about the accident. Puck was walking without the support of the cane. The broken bones were mostly mended now. There was still a slight hesitance when he walked but it was only noticeable if you knew to look in the first place. He was normal for the most part. Back to the same loveable, irritating, adorable asshole that they all knew and loved. Until a migraine settled in or he had to put on his glasses to read over lyrics. It all came crashing back in those moments. Rachel swallowed and forced herself not to stare.

"Is Puck ok?" Mercedes asked, keeping her voice low. Now that Rachel was paying attention, she found that almost everyone in the room was keeping their voices a few decibels quieter than usual, respectful of Puck's pounding headache. Even the boys, who normally protested against being anywhere near "girly conversations", were sitting closer so that their voices wouldn't bother him.

"This is a prime example of why you guys will never be champions," Jesse interjected. "A headache is not an excuse to sleep through practice."

"It is when he almost died a few months ago," Rachel retorted sharply. Her eyes locked on Jesse and it took every bit of her impressive self control not to punch her too smug ex-boyfriend in the face. "Noah needs to rest. So you need to shut up and back off. Now."

"I love it when you talk all assertive like, midget," Santana grinned, suddenly slinking into the seat beside Rachel with her arm already draped across her best friend's shoulders. "It gets me all hot in my loins."

"So does air," Rachel shot back, although she was silently grateful for the other girl's distraction. She really was trying to see the good in Jesse but he made it so damn difficult with his nearly daily personal attacks on the gleeks, especially Finn and Puck.

"Someone tried to kill Puckerman?"

"No," Finn ground out. "No one tried to kill Puck. It was an accident."

Jesse smirked, his eyes twinkling with amusement and a hint of some other nasty emotion. "Sounds a little defensive there, Hudson. Don't tell me you tried to get rid of the competition." Finn flushed bright red. "Wow, maybe you are Vocal Adrenaline material after all. You should consider transferring after you guys totally bomb out at Nationals."

"Honestly, St. Douche," Puck started, not bothering to lift his head from the jacket pillowed surface on Brittany's lap. The blonde's fingers were running soothing circles on his scalp absently. Her eyes, however, were focused on Jesse. While Brittany would always be a mystery to them all (except to maybe Puck), Rachel knew enough to know that the look in the blonde's eyes promised nothing but pain for Jesse. Rachel was strangely ok with that. "The only thing I think anyone in this room is seriously considering at the moment is just how awesome it would be to set your ass on fire. Also, I'm pretty sure given the almost obscene amount of hair gel you abuse on a daily basis we wouldn't even need an accelerant."

"I'll totally bring the marshmallows," Brittany agreed. Rachel would've chided them had she not noticed a few smirking gleeks nodding in agreement. And it was official. They were all spending too much time with each other. She made sure to include herself because she really did like the vegan marshmallows her fathers tracked down before the last bonfire they had on the beach. And Jesse was being an annoying prick.

"Hey, guys!"

Rachel was never more excited to see their teacher than she was in that moment. That is until she caught the momentary flash of annoyance on his face before he managed to school his features. Ok, seriously, did no one like Jesse? She paused. Stupid question, Rachel.

"Prom?" Santana murmured beside her. Rachel shook off her pondering of Jesse's impending fiery death to see that Will was writing on the whiteboard that was previously being used to for Nationals song selections. It now bore one word and one word only. Prom.

"We're going to sing songs about prom?" Finn asked, absently.

"I know I'm not the walking encyclopedia of music that Puck is," Sam said, furrowing his brow. "But I'm pretty sure there aren't any songs about prom."

"Six," Puck corrected, still not bothering to open his eyes. "And that's really discounting albums and artists that have the name prom. Although I could be missing a few. I was in a coma earlier this year."

Sam narrowed his eyes. "Why do you even know that many?"

"Alright before you get distracted," Will cut off the impending bickering session with an amused grin. "Sorry, Sam, Puck but we're not going to sing songs about prom. We've been invited to sing at the junior prom!"

"Come again?" Artie spoke up. "I thought Principal Figgins got Air Supply or whatever to sing."

"They cancelled. So Principal Figgins asked if New Directions could perform."

"You said no, right?" Blaine asked. Rachel noticed it was the first words the former Warbler said all afternoon. She was actually a little concerned. The concern only grew when Puck chose that moment to open his eyes. He looked worried. More appropriately he looked understanding _and_ worried. That was never a good combination with this crew.

Will frowned for a moment, seemingly picking up on the unusual tension in the normally smiling, carefree Blaine. "Actually I said yes. Figgins is offering the money he was going to pay the band to us. That'll pay for the airfare and hotel accommodations in New York. Maybe we'll have enough to even sneak in a show."

Rachel wanted to be thrilled at Will's foresight but there was still the odd feeling of impending explosion from Blaine. For once everyone seemed to be on the same page. Even Finn was watching Blaine warily as if he were scared the newest addition to the glee cub was going to blow up at any moment.

"This is perfect!" Kurt squealed, proving that Kurt was still pretty much oblivious to things around him when he was focused on something dear to his heart. Rachel supposed Prom was a good enough reason (in his mind) to ignore the fact that the guy you supposedly have a crush on is obviously having a moment. The more things changed around here, the more they stayed the same. Kurt continued to gush, still not noticing the rolling eyes and Blaine's rapidly growing scowl. "We were all planning on going anyway."

"We were?" Blaine repeated. Rachel swore she felt the temperature in the room drop when he spoke. "I had no intentions of going and I'm still not going. You don't need me for this crap. Call me when we're actually talking about Nationals!" With that, Blaine stormed out of the choir room, leaving behind more than a few shocked friends.

"Finally, someone with his priorities in the right place!" Jesse broke the silence. Rachel didn't bother to see who it was that threw the book in his direction. Her eyes were locked on the door where Blaine disappeared. Though she did allow a small smirk of satisfaction at Jesse's grunt of pain. What? She was human and dating Puck. She was allowed these moments of evil. Though it was quickly passed as she thought about their missing friend.

While she really only met Blaine towards the end of the previous year, she was confident that she knew him enough to know that what just happened wasn't normal. Blaine wasn't usually that… explosive. For all that he was a front runner with the Warblers he was content to blend in with New Directions. So to see him explode was just… wrong. Her eyes flickered to Puck, who was struggling to sit up straight. She leapt out of her seat, helping ease him back down. The fact that he let her showed how much pain he was in at the moment.

"Hey, relax. You stay here. Just tell me what to do," she said, calmly.

"Someone should go after him," Puck finally replied, closing his eyes against the pain and nausea. Rachel placed her hand on his stomach. His hand rested over hers, squeezing gratefully. He swallowed and opened his eyes again. "Preferably someone that's not Kurt."

"Why not me?"

"Right now you're the last person he's going to want to talk to," Brittany answered. Figures, if Puck knew then Brittany would know. Rachel shook her head fondly, still rubbing circles on her boyfriend's stomach. "You're a little too pro-prom for him."

"Because it's prom!" Kurt protested. "It's probably the most exciting thing about junior year. Who isn't excited for prom?"

"Kinda obviously Blaine," Puck pointed out. "Look, it's nothing personal against you, Princess. Just Blaine's got some shit he needs to deal with. This whole prom thing is bringing it up for him in the worst kind of way. He really shouldn't be alone."

"We'll go," Santana said, already rising. It was amazing how Rachel knew she was included in that 'we'. "Any ideas where to find him?"

"The weight room," Mike answered. All eyes turned to him. "What? The guy likes to work out. I caught him whaling on a punching bag earlier this week. He said something about the Dalton Fight Club."

"Good times," Puck murmured, smirking drowsily.

Rachel took that as a good time to leave the room. Sometimes she wondered what her friends (and boyfriend) did before she became friends with them. And then she remembered that these were her friends. Her sanity depended on her not really knowing the answer to that.

* * *

As Mike predicted, Blaine was in the weight room. But instead of working out he was simply sitting on the floor as if he lost the motivation to move past that particular spot. Rachel saw Santana throw her a look. She shrugged. Like she knew what was going on anymore than Santana. He looked up at the two girls when they entered before returning his attention to the spot on the wall. Rachel's heart broke a little at the empty, sad look in his eyes.

"Is this the part where we have an after school special moment and everything gets tied up in a nice, neat little bow? Then we sing, dance and are merry at prom."

Santana snorted, sitting down on the floor beside him. "No, this is the part where you remember that Puck and Britt went through a lot of effort to steal you from Dalton. I don't know about anyone else but I don't like my toys to be broken. So this is the part where you tell us what's going on and let us try to help."

Blaine shook his head. "You can't help. There's nothing to help. New Directions is performing at prom. I'm not going to prom. Ergo I'm not performing and life goes on. The end."

"What happened to you?" Rachel asked, softly. His eyes widened somewhat as he faced her. She could almost see the betrayed hurt floating in the brown orbs and shook her head. "No, Noah didn't tell us anything. He said that this was bringing up some issues that you still need to work on but that's all he's really said."

Blaine nodded, turning back to the suspect stain on the wall. From her new place on the floor next to Blaine, Rachel was starting to see what it was about that stain that was attracting his attention. It was weird.

"Does anyone else see Jesse in that stain?" Santana asked, after several silent moments of contemplation on all three teens' part.

"No, it's most definitely Mr. Ryerson," Rachel corrected. She cocked her head to the side. "Oh, now I see Jesse."

Blaine snickered quietly but he sobered quickly. "Sorry for being such a drama queen."

"We'll call it even if you tell us what's going on in that very dapper head of yours."

Blaine gave a faint hint of a smile before nodding. "As you both know, I transferred to Dalton about a year ago because I was being harassed by other students in the school for being out. It wasn't so bad at first. It was just being pushed into lockers, getting called names, prank calls, things like that."

Rachel winced and inwardly wondered just how that would ever be considered not so bad. And just what could've been worse than that.

"The Fall Formal at my school was like prom but for everyone. It was a pretty big deal. But like I said I was one of the few out kids in that school. Not a whole lot of people lining up for a date. I had another friend there that was also out and we decided that we would go together. Safety in numbers or some crap like that," Blaine let out a bitter laugh. "We showed up at the dance but we never even made it inside. Some of the jocks didn't take the fact that the 'fags' were hanging together too well. So they jumped us and beat the crap out of both of us."

Rachel didn't hesitate to pull his hand into hers. Her thumb ran circles over the skin there lightly. Now that she was aware of it, she could see faint traces of scars on his hands and the skin on his am that was revealed by his three quarter shirt. Rachel felt the anger running through her veins at the thought of someone hurting her friend bad enough to leave scars like that after so long. And it wasn't just the physical scars that were lingering the most.

"I was in the hospital for a week. By the time I could go home, my parents had already enrolled me in Dalton. I've been there ever since."

"Oh," Santana sighed. "Yet, you still came here after everything?"

"I really like you guys," Blaine admitted sheepishly. "I guess since everything with Karofsky calmed down, I was cool. Or I thought I was cool with everything. But now…. I can't go to prom. I just can't."

"It won't be the same without you," Rachel said. "We were good before but we're better with you. You make being in glee fun."

"I'm scared," Blaine admitted. "I know realistically that what happened probably wouldn't happen again but I'm terrified to take that chance. I know I put on this front that I'm so confident but I'm not. Every single day I wonder if it would just be easier to go back in the closet and pretend until I can find somewhere that I belong."

Santana brushed a hand over Blaine's hair and smiled. "You did find somewhere you belong. You belong with us. In case you haven't noticed, we tend to accept all kinds around here. You've got Puck, the reformed glorified male prostitute who knocked up the virginal head cheerleader. And then there's Quinn, the virginal head cheerleader who gave up her baby to Rachel's mom. You already know all of Rachel's damage." She paused as Rachel whacked her on the arm. "We also have me. The very much closeted bisexual whore who is in madly in love with her best friend/former fuck buddy and also crushing on one of my very male best friends."

Rachel blinked in Santana's direction. Brittany and Santana? She always thought there was something between the two girls but then Brittany and Artie got together and the thought just went away. But that explained so much about the interactions between Brittany and Santana through the years, and even in recent months. There was always a noticeable tension, especially when Artie was around. She wondered how she didn't know about this until now. She also wondered what this meant for Sam, who was clearly in love with Santana. Oh the drama….

"I never knew that," Blaine commented, pulling Rachel back into the moment. "I'm… sorry?"

"Don't be," Santana assured him. "I didn't tell you that to get sympathy or anything lame like that. I told you because I wanted to remind you that you're not alone here. And you won't be on prom night either. Why? Because you just received the great honor of being my date."

Blaine's eyes widened. "But what about Sam? You know he's been working up the balls to ask you. This whole forced performance thing will probably give him that edge."

There was a momentary flash of conflict in Santana's eyes before the resolve returned. "That's fine," she shrugged. "I don't know what, if anything, is going on between me and Sam but I do know that it won't fall apart if we don't go to prom together. I want you to be there. You need go to get past all that crap in your past and that means you need to feel safe. You need me."

"You going to protect me from the bad guys?"

"You know you're my boy. You also know that I will obliterate anyone that messes with you."

"That's equal parts reassuring and very worrying," Rachel grinned, leaning into Blaine's shoulder. He squeezed her hand gently. "You know that I may have to join this date, right?"

"What about the smoking hot arm candy you call a boyfriend?"

"If Sam doesn't go with San, he'll end up going alone. Noah won't let that happen so they're probably going to go together. And that's entirely too much testosterone for me," Rachel pulled a face. She saw Blaine's worried look. "Have you see Noah and Sam, Blaine? I'm reasonably sure that no one in this school is foolish enough to attempt messing with either of them. Especially Noah."

Santana laughed in agreement. "Especially not given how crazy sneaky and vengeful he's been ever since he and Britt started teaming up full time."

Blaine frowned. "You mean that this is a recent thing?"

"Yeah. Scary isn't it?"

"Very."

* * *

"Are you really sure you don't want us over there? Or at least me? Especially me? It's a dark and stormy night. You might get scared being over there all alone."

Rachel suppressed the urge to roll her eyes even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Noah, while I do appreciate the multiple offers, I keep telling you that it's not necessary for either you or Sam to come over here tonight. Dad will be back from his conference on Friday. Dad is attending to a patient and will most likely be back in the morning. I think I am fully capable of taking care of myself for one night. And on that note, the entire purpose of Sam sleeping over there was to make sure that you take care of yourself and rest."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. She could almost envision the childish pout, his full bottom lip sticking out and hazel eyes begging her to see his way. She almost caved at the mental image but she didn't. She was right. He needed to rest and she needed to know that she was capable of functioning without Puck (if only for a night). "Seriously, babe, I'm feeling much better."

"Uh huh. And how many times have you thrown up tonight?"

"Uh, you want my answer or the one that Sam keeps punching me in the arm to tell you?"

Rachel grinned. "Good night, Noah. I love you. Good night, Sam."

He sighed. "Fine, you both win. Night, Rach. Love you too. Goddamn it, Sam, I'm getting off the phone! Quit your bitchin!"

The phone disconnected with a muffled argument from Sam. Rachel smiled fondly. While she truly did enjoy her boyfriend, friends and family, she was really looking forward to this rare evening away from everyone. It was almost unheard of for her to have a night to herself and she was prepared to take full advantage of it. She headed up to her room where she pulled out her favorite pajamas (a cute fluffy set bearing god stars and microphones that Santana picked up as a belated birthday present) and started to the bathroom to run a bubble bath. The tub was nearly full when the doorbell rang.

"Oh, come on!" she whined. With an annoyed huff of air, she flicked the water off. Rachel walked downstairs, fully prepared to chew out whoever it was (most likely Puck and Sam) for interrupting her well earned girly time. As she passed into the foyer she glanced at the clock. While it was true that Puck lived very close, he didn't live close enough to make it to her house that quick, especially not in this weather. Her annoyance peaked as she thought about who else it could be. She wouldn't put it past Jesse to make an attempt at getting her to see his idea of reason tonight.

With this in mind, she yanked the door open with a barely suppressed growl only to die abruptly when she saw exactly who was standing on her doorstep. The weather was horrible with heavy sheets of rain pouring down from the skies. One would have to be insane or completely driven to despair to be anywhere but home in this type of weather. It was the latter that she found on her best friend's face. Santana's loose hair was plastered to her head. She was shivering wearing on a thin shirt, jeans and a pair of boots. But Rachel didn't see any of that. She could only see the broken, sad, look in Santana's eyes and the bright red mark on her cheek.

"San?" Rachel broke the silence that had fallen over them. "I thought you were having dinner with your parents tonight. What happened?"

Even as she spoke, Rachel was pulling Santana into her house. The other girl was way too compliant. There were no sarcastic comments, no lewd winking or smirks. There was no reaction other than to let Rachel led her inside. Rachel rushed to grab towels from the guest bathroom which she draped over her still shaky friend. She ran her hands up and down the other girl's arms trying to get some warmth back into the too cold flesh.

"Santana, you're scaring me here. What's going on? Do you want me to call Noah or Brittany?"

Finally there was a flicker of emotion in the formally cold eyes. Santana shook her head slowly. "Don't call."

Satisfied that her friend wasn't catatonic at least, Rachel nodded. "Ok, then what's going on?"

"Jacob… blog," she mumbled in response. "My parents saw it… so angry…. They threw me out. I don't…. how…."

Rachel really didn't understand most of what she was saying but she now knew how to find out. Reverting to her atypical ways, Rachel ushered her soaking wet friend upstairs. She rummaged through her wardrobe, pulling out a pair of what appeared to be Santana's sweat pants and a shirt that was definitely too big to be Rachel's but not nearly big enough to be Puck's. She glanced in to see that there were similar sized items in there as well. Since when did Santana have this much clothes at her house?

Shaking it off for the moment, she gave Santana the clothes, finishing running her abandoned bath, shoved the still too pliant Santana in the bathroom with instructions not to move until she was starting to prune. This pulled a somewhat small smile from Santana. That was good enough. Rachel didn't move away from the closed bathroom door until she heard the faint sounds of water splashing in the tub. She left then to figure out what could make her damn near invincible, highly imaginative and most importantly strong best friend act this way. The only concrete thing she had to go with was Jacob's blog.

She curled up on her bed with her laptop and opened the page she hated to visit but frequently did because of all the crap he wrote about her. She didn't need to look hard to see what the issue was. Jacob made an entry detailing the race for prom queen and exposing the dirt on the thus far two most popular candidates, Santana and Quinn. The entry detailed Santana's long history of being in the closet, including the relationship she had with Brittany. Everything Rachel had only put together that afternoon was there. She swallowed against the lump forming in her throat to read the entry on Quinn. Hers wasn't much better. Jacob talked about Beth and even mentioned Nicholas. Rachel didn't know how he got that information but she did know one thing: Jacob was a dead man. She was going to rip him apart with her bare hands.

"So you read it?"

Her head shot up at the unusually soft voice. San was standing in the doorway. Her hair was still damp but she was wearing dry clothes and the shivers appeared to have stopped. Rachel struggled to think of something that would make this better but she realized that there was nothing she could say. She put her laptop on the floor and motioned for Santana to join her on the bed. Santana shuffled quietly across the room, climbing up and shifting subconsciously closer to Rachel, seeking comfort. Rachel pulled her close so that Santana's head was resting on her shoulder.

"You sure you want me this close, Rach? I might try to flirt with you," Santana said, her voice dripping with bitterness and self loathing. Rachel's fingers carded through the still damp strands of hair.

"I'm not really sure what exactly happened with your parents but you know nothing changes for me, San. I meant it on New Years when I said I was where I wanted to be. You, Noah, Sam, Britt, Artie, Mike, Tina and even Quinn are the best friends I could ask for. Especially you. Nothing changes for us."

"I don't even know how but they saw Jacob's blog," Santana sighed. "They asked me if it was true. I should've said no. I should've said that it was a lie. But I thought about Blaine. He's out and he gets crap for it but he's proud. His parents accept him for who he is. The same with Kurt. I thought they could accept me for being bisexual." She paused, her face crumpling. "They told me that it was disgusting. They told me that I had to drop out of New Directions, stop hanging to with Britt and…. You… especially your dads."

Rachel felt her stomach drop. She knew where this was headed and she sincerely wondered if she was worth it.

"They made me choose between them and you guys. I chose you," Santana admitted, making Rachel feel sick at the thought that anyone could do that to their own child, much less one as amazing as Santana. She also felt slightly giddy and anxious that Santana was now homeless because she chose them. Because she loved them enough to choose them. She didn't even pause to think about what she was about to say. She had a feeling that neither of her fathers would mind, especially if her hunch about how so many of Santana's clothes were ending up in her room and Santana's parents trying to ban Santana from contacting them.

"Remember what you told Blaine this afternoon?"

"That I was his prom date?"

"Well, yes, but also that he wasn't alone. The same is true for you. You know that you will always have a home here. You're family.

Santana nodded but didn't have a chance to make any further response as the doorbell rang. Again. Rachel groaned, detangling herself from Santana and marching downstairs to fling the door open. Once again who she was expecting (Puck) was not who actually saw. Sanding underneath a yellow umbrella with the most pissed off expression Rachel ever saw plastered across her face was Quinn Fabray. This was not the first time she'd been to Rachel's house but judging by the barely contained anger in Quinn's eyes, Rachel doubted this was a simple social call.

"Uh, Quinn?"

"Where is she?"

"Where is who?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Santana. Where is Santana?"

Rachel hesitated. On the one hand, Quinn was her friend now. On the other hand, she looked ready to kill someone and Rachel wasn't entirely sure Santana could handle that at the moment. Not if Quinn thought it was Santana that leaked the information to Jacob and she might just think that because it was beyond obvious that it was a member of New Directions.

"Why do you think Santana is here?"

"Oh, let me see. Jacob just posted a ridiculous blog entry basically ruining the social lives of both myself and Santana and my first instinct was to go to you. I don't even have the title of best friend and I knew that being around you would make it better. So I know that Santana came straight here."

Rachel sighed in defeat. "She's upstairs."

Quinn nodded, brushing past her gently to enter the house. "For the record, Rach, I'm not here to hurt her anymore. I know that she didn't say anything to Jacob. I know none of our friends did. I'll find out who it was and that little bastard is going down once and for all. But for now, I need to see Santana."

Rachel followed Quinn upstairs and wondered how she ever doubted the blonde. She watched as Quinn quickly shed her jacket and shoes and claimed Rachel's original spot beside Santana.

"Q?"

"Your mother called my mother," Quinn replied. "She said we were to turn you away if you came to us. Mom tried to tell me to avoid you tomorrow to better my chances of still winning this stupid prom race." Quinn grinned. "Like she knows anything."

Santana laughed but it sounded more like a sob. "I don't know what to do."

"Do what you've been doing since December. Trust us to have your back," Quinn answered firmly. She lifted her head slightly. "Right, Rach?"

Rachel lay down on Santana's free side. "Always," she wrapped an arm around Santana's waist. She felt Quinn do the same.

She didn't know how long they laid there talking about one mindless topic after another but she heard Santana's breaths even out with sleep. Quinn met Rachel's waiting gaze over the top of their sleeping friend. Rachel nodded.

"For the record," Rachel started with a smile. "You do have the title of best friend, Quinn. You're a glirl after all."

Quinn snickered. "I was right. It is better being here."

Rachel beamed in response. No, she wasn't at all comfortable, practically dangling over the edge of the bed while Quinn and Santana took up more space. Things were not going to be easy at school for Quinn, Santana or Brittany tomorrow. And then there was that whole issue of Santana being homeless (though she was confident that would be resolved once her father returned home in the morning). But right now, knowing that both Santana and Quinn, two girls that professed to hate her just five months ago, came to her for comfort showed hat things weren't completely dark. Maybe, just maybe, there was hope for this club yet.

But that was where it ended. Because there was no hope for Jacob. That asshole, and whoever tipped him off, was going down. No one messed with her family.

* * *

*Hope you all enjoyed. I promise that Part Two will be coming soon.


	12. Tonight, Tonight

**Summary**: Rachel has always lived for her future. Fortunately, she has her fellow gleeks and a certain Mohawk sporting badass to teach her about living (and loving) in the present.

**Pairings**: Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, hints of Samtana, mentioned Brittana, hints of Klaine. Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Faberry friendship.

**Warnings**: This contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did there would be many more songs featuring Santana, Puck and Artie. There would also be a lot more Mike and his wondrous abs. I also do not own any of the songs mentioned in this chapter. Nor do I own any rights to _Tangled_ or _Chuck_ or Zachary Levi… sad now.

**Author's Note**: Hello everyone! I come bearing a brand spanking new chapter. Hope you all enjoy it. Now, I have some good news and some bad news. We'll start with the bad. This chapter was super long and I really felt like I should break it down… again. The good news is that I decided that I might get killed for breaking it yet again and then taking another month to post the third part, so I just left it alone. So we're finally concluding the whole prom arc. One final piece of business, I'm apologizing in advance now to anyone who gets any song from Tangled stuck in their head. I may have been watching that a bit too many times while writing this chapter. But you'll hardly notice… yeah, right. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Tonight, Tonight

The first thing Rachel noticed when she woke up the next morning was that her back really hurt. Her next conscious thought was the understanding of why her back was seriously aching. Somehow during the course of the night she ended up on the floor next to her bed. A quick glance upwards answered that question as well. Apparently was Quinn was very much a bed hog. The blonde was sprawled across the bed while Santana was laying half on and half off the bed. Her upper body rested on top of Rachel, who was still lying on the floor. Quinn was sleeping peacefully, ignorant of her friends' plight.

"I love her to death, but she's officially banned from all future sleepovers," Santana murmured from where her face rested in the crook of Rachel's neck. "Also, as if this wasn't awkward and weird enough. I think she may be cuddling my leg at the moment."

Rachel pushed herself up on her elbows in order to get a better look. She couldn't help the laughter that erupted at the sight of Quinn snuggling Santana's sweatpants covered leg like it was a teddy bear. She laid back down, not even bothering to suppress the giggles.

"I'm glad you're amused by this, midget."

"How can I not be?" Rachel asked, breathlessly. "It's just so ridiculous!"

Santana groaned before shaking her leg in a vain attempt at shaking her off. It only resulted in Quinn rolling over fully trapping Santana to the bed.

"Oh goddamnit!"

Though they started off their morning with giggles and fake grumbling, the severity of their situation came crashing back all too soon. This is how Rachel found herself watching Santana as she stared into space and sipped halfheartedly at the cup of coffee Rachel managed to force on her. In the background, Quinn was rooting around the refrigerator searching for something non vegan. It was a success as she finally found the eggs and sausage that Rachel's fathers kept on hand for Santana, Puck and Sam, who were all frequent guests at the Berry household for breakfast Come to think of it, there were a lot of items in the fridge that were specific to just Santana.

Before she could even form the mental capacity to question it aloud, the door opened revealing Leroy Berry accompanied by Sam and Puck. Judging from the looks on their faces, they all knew and none of them were happy with the news. Leroy murmured under his breath as he took in Santana's visibly depressed appearance. He quickly crossed the room to stand in front of her. Santana placed the mug down as she peered up at Leroy cautiously.

"The boys told me everything," he whispered, prompting her face to crumple. "You don't have to worry about anything. This is your home for as long as you need. If you want to work it out with your parents, I will help you any way that I can. If you want to live here until you graduate, that's fine too. Just know that you will always have a place here, Santana. This is your home too."

Rachel watched as tears slipped down Santana's face unnoticed. Leroy must've expected it as he pulled her into an embrace and rested his chin on her bowed head. Rachel froze at the sight of her best friend's shoulder shaking from the sobs she was still trying to hold back. She never saw Santana cry. Honestly, the concept was so inconceivable that she still couldn't reconcile the act with what she was seeing. Santana was invincible to Rachel. But now she was fragile and displaying... emotions. That was not kosher. Rachel felt her hands clenching into fists.

"Rachel, Quinn," Leroy's voice dragged her from her homicidal thoughts. "I trust that Sam will be accompanying you to school this morning. Noah is staying here with Santana."

At this Santana lifted her head to throw a tear filled confused look in Puck's direction. He gave her a half smile while lifting a previously unnoticed orange bag up. It apparently meant something to Santana as she laughed softly, tears falling again.

"You remembered?"

"Of course," Puck said, his tone sounding offended she thought he could forget. "It's also why I didn't make it over here last night. Had to wait until the other store opened to get the gummy bears. Why you only like the kosher ones I'll never understand."

Santana sat up somewhat, but still leaned back on Leroy. "And the green ones?"

"Sammy picked them out personally. They're currently decorating Jewfro's lawn."

Santana looked warily in Sam's direction. Rachel could almost feel how awkward this was for both of them but she also felt a small sense of satisfaction when Sam gave her a wide smile and shrugged.

"I think a few of them actually got stuck to his window too."

"Well that's what happens when you lick them before you throw them," Puck pointed out, pride evident in his voice. "Next time, we need to toss something a lot heavier than a gummy bear."

"Boys," Leroy warned. "You both know better."

"Yeah, I know. No destroying Jewfro's house because it's not his parents fault he turned out to be such a seedy bastard," Puck muttered. "Still think it is. I mean come on! You've seen his dad. That guy gives off perv vibes like a mile away. I think he's actually forbidden to come to the school for parent-teacher night."

Leroy rolled his eyes, though Rachel saw the smile playing across his lips. "Anyway, as fun as all this is, I think it's time for you all to be heading to school."

"Just one question, I get why San isn't going to school but what's Puck's excuse?" Quinn asked, grinning.

"My doctor said I could ditch. Don't hate the player, hate the game." He winked at her before ushering Santana downstairs.

As they passed, Rachel caught sight of the contents of the bag. There were more than a few Disney discs in there, including _Lilo & Stitch_ and _Tangled_. Both of those were Santana's favorite movies. Rachel smiled faintly remembering the day Puck and Santana showed up on her doorstep and changed her life. Puck knew just what to bring over to cheer her up and it looked like he did the same for Santana. Her boyfriend was so amazing.

Leroy cleared his throat bringing all attention back to him. "Now, I know that you all want to get revenge on Jacob and I don't blame you. But just remember to be careful and don't get caught."

"Wait, you're actually okaying us kicking his ass?" Sam asked.

Leroy blinked in an act of innocence that made Rachel jealous. "I'm not Okaying anything, Sam. I'm merely saying that if something were to happen to him, I sincerely hope that you three wouldn't be accused of it. But what I am saying is that I will be severely disappointed if something didn't happen to him by the end of the day. Take from that what you will."

Rachel beamed, standing on her tiptoes to press a kiss against her father's cheek. "You're the best, Dad."

"I try, sweetheart. I try." He paused as the television started playing. Rachel knew it well enough to know it was _Tangled_. The fact that her father knew that as well just meant that Santana did spend way more time here than she imagined. The fond smile that was on her father's face just meant that her fathers knew that too and didn't care either. "I know they didn't seriously start that movie without me. I'll see you kids after school."

With that Leroy excused himself to the basement. Part of Rachel wanted to stay as well but aside from her perfect attendance record, she had some unfinished business with Jacob. She was going to get him back for what he wrote and then she was going to kill whoever gave him the information in the first place. She looked up to see similar dark thoughts on the faces of Sam and Quinn. This was going to be fun.

* * *

This was so not fun. Jacob must've felt that they were coming after him because they couldn't find the little weasel anywhere. After a car ride that was spent alternating between arguing over who got to hit him first and exactly how they were going to get him back, the trio went straight on their way to collect their revenge. Only their prey was eluding them and that was not ok. As they were walking out the A/V room, they bumped into David Karofsky.

"Finally," he muttered. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Not now, Dave," Rachel grunted, her eyes darting around the crowded hallways looking for a sign of that horribly, frizzy afro. "We're looking for someone."

"Let me guess, Jacob?"

"How'd you know?" Quinn asked with narrowed eyes.

Dave rolled his eyes. "Really? Jacob posted a blog basically ripping Quinn to shreds and outing Santana and you're seriously asking me how I knew you would be looking for him? Gleeks stick together."

Rachel had the good grace to look sheepish for snapping at the jock who had slowly become their friend. "Sorry, about that. Have you seen him this morning?"

"Yeah, he's in the nurse's office."

"Hiding out?"

"Unconscious," Dave smirked. "Like I said, gleeks stick together. The Jacob problem has already been taken care of. You guys got here late."

"By who?" Sam asked, incredulously and with more than a hint of regret.

"Well the official story is that Mike Chang kicked his ass in the parking lot," Dave paused, lowering his voice. "But the actual story is that Tina and Blaine were waiting for him in the parking lot of the school. I'm not really sure what exactly happened but I know it involved a lot of screaming. By the time Principal Figgins managed to get outside with Ms. Pillsbury, Jacob was already out for the count and Mike was claiming responsibility for everything."

Despite feeling disappointed that she wouldn't get to break her nonviolence code on Jacob's face, she couldn't help the feeling of pride that Tina and Blaine would do that for Santana and that Mike was willing to take the fall.

"Why did it take so long for Figgins to get outside?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know. Something was wrong with the doors," Dave shrugged. "They were jammed with a hockey stick. They had to go all the way around the building."

"A hockey stick, huh?" Sam smirked. "Wouldn't happen to be the same stick that Avery used to jam Artie in a porta potty yesterday was it?"

"You know what, I think it actually might be. Interesting," Dave returned the grin. "Like I said, gleeks stick together. Even gleeks by association." The two boys shared a conspiratorial fist bump.

Quinn and Rachel both hugged the former bully before rushing off to the principal's office. They could see Mike sitting on the couch by the administrative assistant's desk while Tina, Blaine and Kurt hovered close by. Tina and Blaine were looking entirely too smug while Mike appeared similarly unconcerned. Kurt was the only one who appeared worried.

"Well, well, look at who finally decided to show up," Tina grinned, taking in the newcomers.

"Don't even start. I'm so mad at you," Rachel jabbed a finger in her direction. "You couldn't wait a half an hour?"

"I was going to but I got a text from your father."

"I just saw Dad this morning."

"Not Dad, Daddy," Tina clarified. "He told us to make a move and he'd back our play. He's already on his way over here to get Mike out of trouble. Even if Jewfro's parents try to press charges, your dad said he was going to counter sue."

"So because Rachel's dad tells you, it's ok, you guys go crazy in a parking lot?" Quinn asked, tapping her fingers on her arm.

"You're just mad because you got here after all the fun," Blaine pointed out. "And for the record, we barely touched him. We just strongly implied what we would do."

"Very strongly," Tina added.

"With a few demonstrations for the words he didn't understand."

"Just a few."

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. She also couldn't help but be happy that her fathers were on her side. Hiram wasn't even back in town yet and he managed to get Jacob out of the picture. It was then that Rachel remembered the other part of why she wanted to break Jacob in half.

"You know that someone leaked the information to him, right? He didn't just get that information by being a creeper, which he totally is but still someone told him everything," Quinn said, voicing Rachel's thought.

"We figured that out this morning and we got a name," Blaine scowled. It was such an unnatural look on his normally smiling features that Rachel immediately wanted to tell him to smile. But then he spoke again and Rachel felt herself scowling as well. "It was Lauren."

* * *

Lauren Zizes was an anomaly in the glee club. While she was physically larger than most of the girls in their town and pretty much all of the girls in their school, she was also completely confident and almost cocky. She really was scarily similar to Puck. But even Puck wouldn't cross this serious a line. It was almost like an unspoken rule. What happens in the glee club stays in the glee club. The school made being in glee almost taboo. So it was just assumed that it was them against the world. As Dave pointed out so succinctly, gleeks stick together. Somehow Lauren missed that memo.

But she didn't miss the memo going around school that Jacob fainted in the parking lot after being "aggressively verbally confronted" by Mike Chang. The fact that the actual confronters were prone to giggling every time they overheard that little tidbit did wonders for improving Rachel's mood. Still, she knew she wasn't going to feel better about anything until she actually asked Lauren what the hell she was thinking. And by third period, she finally got her chance. It was a free period for her, Tina and Quinn. Usually Santana would be there with them but she wasn't because Lauren opened her big mouth to Jacob of all people.

They managed to track her down in the locker room. It was practically empty as most of the other students were already changed and in the gym. Once they saw the three girls walk in, the rest of the stragglers cleared out. Obviously news of this morning's parking lot antics had spread quickly. Lauren sat on one of the benches almost as if she were waiting. Rachel supposed she was.

"Is this the part where you threaten to kick our asses before we kick yours?" Tina asked. Rachel made a mental note to ask when the Goth got this sassy. But that was after she dealt with Lauren. Suddenly, she wished they bought Blaine with them. They could definitely use some of that Dalton Fight Club stuff he'd apparently used on Jacob.

"No," Lauren replied, flatly.

"I only have one question," Rachel spoke, priding herself on how calm her voice sounded. "Why? Why the hell would you say anything to Jacob?"

Lauren finally looked up from her hands which held her attention from the minute they walked in the room. "I made a mistake."

"Gee, you think?" Quinn retorted.

"You don't know what it's like!"

"We don't know what is like?"

Lauren gestured for the three girls to look in the mirror. They did so with confused expressions on their faces. When they turned back to Lauren, she was waiting with a raised eyebrow. "You notice a difference between you and me?"

"You're wearing glasses?" Tina suggested. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Yes, we're all aware that there is a difference in your physical body versus ours but I really don't see what that has to do with you outing Santana to that scumbag Jacob."

Lauren sighed. "I just realized yesterday that I stand no chance at being the prom queen. Quinn and Santana have this hands down because they're pretty and popular. Even after quitting the Cheerios, even though they're in glee, people still like them. I never stood a chance."

Rachel frowned. She knew the feeling. She often felt like she didn't measure up when compared to Santana and Quinn. She knew she was attractive, pretty really, but that didn't mean anything when you walked beside two girls that were freakishly gorgeous. So Rachel totally understood where Lauren was coming from but she couldn't forgive it because it hurt Santana. She didn't look gorgeous this morning with her flat hair and dead eyes.

"Why didn't you say something?" Quinn asked. "Why did you tell us you felt this way? We would've set you straight from the beginning."

"Really? What you going to give me a makeover and make me beautiful?"

"Don't need to," Quinn shot back. "You're already beautiful. Lauren, you're pretty. The fact that you're confident makes you beautiful. You embrace who you are and you love yourself. You think that San and I are perfect? Please. Obviously San had her thing that she was keeping hidden. And me? Well, I wasn't always this way."

They watched as Quinn took a deep breath. She reached into her purse and pulled out a faded photograph. Rachel took the picture and felt more than saw Lauren and Tina huddle next to her to get a better look as well. She recognized it as a class photo from their eighth grade pictures. The girl in the picture was larger than even Lauren. She had thick glasses and braces that were showing in her tight, reluctant smile. Everything about the girl screamed awkward and miserable. Rachel wanted to ask Quinn what this had to do with anything when she recognized the sad green eyes staring back at her from the picture.

"This is you?"

Tina snatched the picture out Rachel's hand, gasping. "No way! It's like the girl that ate you!"

"Thanks, Tina," Quinn nodded, though she smiled a little. "But yes, that's me. They called me Lucy Caboosey. It was so embarrassing. But instead of just realizing how amazing I was, I begged my parents to let me transfer schools. I got a nose job, went to fat camp and started cheering. I dyed my hair blonde and here I am. I dropped the Lucy and became Quinn." She looked at Lauren. "I know what it's like. But I also know that if I had the same friends I have now then I would be a totally different person."

"Seriously, it's like you ate yourself!"

Rachel giggled, covering her mouth quickly. "I don't think there is a single girl in New Directions that doesn't have some kind of image problem or some issue about themselves that they've tried to change. I've tried to be less annoying. I tried to change everything about myself when I was dating Finn. I figured that's the way to make him stay. That clearly didn't work."

"You probably don't remember me from last year but I was dating Artie then. I used to fake a stutter. I figured that people wouldn't bother with me because of the stutter and it ended being the thing that came between me and Artie."

"See," Quinn said, gently nudging Lauren. "We're all defective. Rachel is a loud, bossy, midget dictator. I'm a spoiled rotten princess with self esteem issues that will keep my therapist in business for years. Tina… well she's Tina." Quinn had to duck as Tina swung at her head. "We've all got issues, Lauren. But the point is that we found the one place that accepts us even with those issues. We all accept Rachel for who she is. She know that sometimes she might be completely selfish but at the end of the day, she's still ours. Kurt may be melodramatic and bordering on annoying some days, but he's still ours. We stick together."

Lauren looked between the three girls, closing her eyes briefly. "I am so sorry. I really never meant to hurt Santana like that. I just…I was just so jealous. I was so tired of being the fat girl that no one wanted to be bothered with. I just wanted to know what it was like to be popular for once."

"You picked the wrong place for that," Tina grinned. "Glee club? It's social suicide."

"But who needs popularity when you're a glirl?" Quinn smiled. "Besides we all know this prom queen race is a sham anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"I am reasonably sure that the whole thing is going to be rigged to go in favor of a certain pair of masterminds," Rachel huffed, her lips forming a fond smile. "Noah and Brittany spent a large amount of time last week learning exactly how the votes were tallied. We have a pool going for who they're actually going to make prom queen and king."

"I still think it's going to be Kurt and Blaine," Tina muttered.

Instead of being amused, like they thought she'd be, Lauren seemed even more despondent with that bit of information. "So you mean I did all that for nothing?" Oh, yeah, guess she wouldn't be feeling too great about that right now. The three friends exchanged confused looks. "God, I can't believe I was so stupid! I should've just walked away from that jerk when he first suggested that I sabotage you guys."

"Who Jacob? Because if this was his idea to begin with, I'm more than willing to make him actually bleed," Tina said, nodding her head. Rachel really wondered when she became that blood thirsty. Or maybe she was always that way and none of them noticed. Whatever it was… she kind of liked it.

"No, it wasn't Jacob. It was Jesse."

For the second time that day, Rachel saw red. Lauren and Jacob were just pawns in Jesse's never ending mind games. Well, maybe not so much Jacob because he was a perverted jerk but definitely Lauren. Jesse prayed on her insecurities and used them to hurt Santana and Quinn. A part of her wondered why but most of her didn't care. She might not have gotten a crack at Jacob but she was damn sure going to let Jesse know exactly how she felt.

* * *

Despite near perfect grades, Rachel was so over high school academics. The teachers at McKinley lacked any kind of passion for their jobs. It wasn't her fault they failed at teaching basic things like history correctly. It also wasn't her fault that she felt the need to inform her fellow classmates of these grievous errors. It was bad enough that they were getting a sub par education overall. They should at least know that the civil war was not started because the North was "uppity". Needless to say, her teacher did not appreciate her intervention. It also went without saying that her expression of her displeasure of Rachel's interruption caused a significant delay in her arrival at glee. She was so busy muttering under her breath about her teacher that she almost failed to notice that Santana and Puck were both present when they were supposed to be home.

She was similarly surprised to see that Santana was sitting next to Lauren. The two girls were talking but neither appeared to be upset. As if she noticed Rachel's silent scrutiny, Santana looked up to meet her gaze. She nodded briefly before going back to her conversation. Rachel took that to mean that she could leave her friend alone for now. So instead she took her place beside Puck.

"I didn't think I was going to see you until I got home," she said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Eh, we got bored. And also I felt like my manliness was decreasing with every passing moment."

"How so?"

"I got in an argument with your father and Satan over there about who was the hottest Disney prince: Aladdin, Flynn Rider or Prince Eric from the _Little Mermaid_."

Rachel giggled. "Who won?"

Puck sniffed. "I did. Flynn is voiced by Zachary Levi also known as Chuck. That guy is dope and he can sing. He's like my nerdy hero. Anyway, after that I came to the sad realization that I just beat a gay man and a girl in an argument about hot male cartoon characters. So I figured I'd come here and at least I'd be around other dudes to reaffirm my masculinity. Then I remembered we'll be singing and dancing for the entertainment of the student body. My manliness is pretty much not there."

She couldn't do anything other than laugh. Puck was so over the top sometimes he made her look good by comparison. She pressed a soft kiss against the corner of his mouth. "Hmm, I would definitely be willing to help you test that theory." She trailed a finger over his arm gently. "You feel pretty manly to me."

He smirked, leaning closer. "Would you care for a proper demonstration?"

"Yes, I think that would be appropriate. Best to gather evidence," their lips brushed lightly. "I wouldn't want to make a hasty decision."

"Oh, no, you wouldn't want that," he smiled against her mouth. "I suggest we make a very thorough examination."

"Ugh, really?" Kurt squealed as he walked into the choir room. "Who let Puck and Rachel into fornication mode?"

Mike, who was still beside the couple, shrugged. "It's Puck and Rachel. When are they not in fornication mode? They're always either eye-sexing, making out or both. And that was before Puckleberry 2.0 became a reality. At least now they get through a day without being physically attached to one another. I think we should all be grateful that they're together finally."

"Chang's got a point. All that UST was killing me slowly," Santana gagged, plopping down in the chair next to Rachel. "Miss me?"

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "A little less when you're mocking my perfectly healthy physical relationship with my boyfriend."

"Just make sure it's not too healthy," Santana warned. "We're roomies now. I definitely don't need to hear you two going at it."

Rachel flushed. "We will not be going at it!"

"Aw, you're so cute when you're all red like that!" Santana smiled. Rachel narrowed her eyes.

"You're so eating tofu for dinner tonight."

"Gag. And that's so not happening. Leroy owes me the meat of my choice after he lost our little bet this afternoon."

"What bet?"

"He bet that Puck and I wouldn't sing every single song from _Tangled_ on the front lawn. He forgets that neither of us have any shame."

"None," Puck agreed. Rachel blinked in disbelief. She was starting to wonder who was influencing who in this situation. Her father or her friends? "It's easy given how many times we've watched that movie. You could do it too, Rach."

Rachel sniffed indignantly. "I suppose I could but why would I want to?"

Puck shrugged. "You never know when you're going to be called upon to give someone that perfect teen movie moment." Rachel looked at him, helplessly confused. Sometimes she really wondered about him.

Thankfully, Will chose that moment to join his students. He looked around the room and frowned. "Where's Quinn?"

"Right here," Quinn replied, breezing into the room. Rachel was immediately on alert. The blonde's earlier upbeat mood was gone. She was frowning now and there was evidence that she was crying. Brittany pulled her into the seat next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. They all watched as her face crumpled.

"What happened, Q?" Tina asked, gently.

"It's Nicholas," she whispered, tearfully. "He broke up with me."

"Because of the blog?" Lauren questioned carefully.

Quinn lifted her head to meet the wrestler's mournful gaze. "That's partially the reason. But honestly I think it was coming before then. The age difference was always bothering him. I think this just gave him the excuse he was looking for."

"You ok?"

Quinn laughed bitterly. "I have no idea. I've been walking around all day trying to keep my head up around these assholes and now I have to show up to prom dateless and alone."

There was a moment of silence before a hesitant voice spoke up. "Not exactly." All eyes flickered towards Sam. He flushed at the sudden attention. "I'm just saying. I don't have a date. You don't have a date. Why don't we go together? For old times sake?"

"You'd really go with me?"

"Yeah, I really would."

She laughed and launched herself into his arms. "Thank you, Sam!"

Rachel started to smile when she noticed the distant look was back in Santana's eyes. She leaned into her best friend's shoulder. "You know that they're just going as friends, right?"

Santana jumped as if forgetting Rachel was there. "I don't care about that. Sam's not dating anyone. He's free to go with Barbie if he wants."

Rachel took Santana's hand in hers. "I'm here when you want to talk about it." Santana didn't reply. But then she didn't need to. Rachel felt the slight pressure in response and that was enough. "So now that we've got that issue settled, shouldn't we be discussing songs we're performing?"

"I had a suggestion for our opening number," Kurt raised his hand. "I was thinking that we should do something that properly demonstrates our group techniques as well as starts prom off with a bang. We need something timeless but also shows who we are."

Will nodded thoughtfully. "What song were you thinking?"

"Two words: Michael Jackson." There was a rise in agreement from the others. "Specifically the appropriately named '_Wanna Be Startin' Something'_. It's the perfect way to start prom and it's appropriate given the rumors and nonsense surrounding us lately."

"Let me guess, you want to sing lead?" Santana asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Usually I would rise to that bait with a sarcastic but well timed comment, but today I'm going to acknowledge that I do have a history of being a bit demanding."

"A bit?" Brittany whispered to an amused Artie. Kurt glared in her direction.

"Anyway, I was actually going to suggest Blaine."

Blaine sat up straight. "What?"

"I think you would be the perfect choice for that particular song."

Will smiled. "Kurt has a point. It would actually be perfect for you."

"You want me to start prom off?" Blaine asked, shakily. Santana snapped her fingers, attracting his attention.

"You can do this, Hogwarts. You've got soul deep down under those dorky, white boy clothes and bow ties. You're going to be great. And if you get too nervous, just remember to sing to me. I am your date after all."

Blaine's lips curved into a smile. "Yeah, you are." He let out a slow breath. "Okay, so I'm starting prom off. What other songs are we singing?"

The rest of practice went smoothly afterwards. Will made the decision that they would each have a selection of songs so that no one person was missing too much of prom. Rachel noticed that Blaine was slated to perform a little more than everyone else but she knew that he was probably more comfortable with performing than he was actually dancing at prom. Rachel wasn't even upset that Puck would be performing a lot as well. It would just give her more time to dance with her friends. Friends… now that was something she never thought she would by the time prom rolled around.

"Still focusing on the unimportant things I see," Jesse's cool voice announced him before he even arrived in the room. He was pinned against the door by a furious Sam before he could even register what happened. "What the hell?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sam snarled. "Do you get your kicks messing with people's lives?"

Jesse's gaze rolled towards Lauren briefly before going back to the seething blonde still holding him against the door. "So I guess you found out that I was the one who suggested that… what's her name tell the ugly kid with the horrible hair your little secrets?"

"Her name is Lauren," Sam said, shaking him slightly. "And yes, we know everything. One question for you though. Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because you're all so caught up in this prom crap that none of you are focusing on what's important," Jesse spat. "You're going to lose Nationals because you're so concerned about one stupid night."

Sam growled and Rachel was pretty sure that it was not going to end well for Jesse at that moment. Luckily, Santana chose that moment to intervene. She knew that her best friend harbored significantly less than pleasant feelings for the former lead for Vocal Adrenaline but she was willing to put that aside so that Sam didn't end up killing him. She wrapped a hand around his arm, pulling him away gently.

"Finally," Jesse muttered.

"Don't," Rachel warned him, quietly. She saw Sam and Santana talking in the corner. He appeared calmer, at least he wasn't jumping at a chance to try and beat the hell out of him. She eyed her ex boyfriend carefully. When they dated, she thought he was everything she could want. He was talented, focused and driven. But now she could see that was all he was. "Just leave, Jesse."

"You're really firing me this close to the competition? We have two weeks before you're expected to perform. How do you expect to win this without me?"

"We got here without you," Rachel replied, calmly. "We got this far without you. I'm willing to bet that we'll make it further without you and your constant attempts at demoralizing this group. And if we do lose, well at least we wouldn't have to deal with you. So just go home, Jesse. We don't need or want you around."

Jesse stood frozen for several long moments. For the first time since she met him, Rachel could actually read the older teen. He was lonely. He would always be alone until he realized that winning was great but it wasn't everything. She wondered if he would ever really learn that lesson. Finally, he muttered something none too complementary about them before spinning on his heels and making a dramatic exit. Rachel was beyond caring. She slumped back in her seat, leaning heavily against Puck.

"That was pretty harsh, babe."

She smiled, lifting her head to look him in the eye. "Yes, but you loved it."

"Oh yeah. I loved every damn second of it."

* * *

When Rachel was younger she used to dream about her ideal prom night. She would have a gorgeous dress. Her fathers would be taking pictures. And she would be getting ready surrounded by her best friends. There would be laughter and smiles and everyone would be so happy. When she reached high school, it became clear to her that this dream was never going to happen. That's why she was abruptly surprised as she walked into her room three years after she gave up the dream to find that it came true… well for the most part. Her dress was gorgeous and her fathers were taking pictures. But Santana was also threatening to ram a curling iron up Kurt's rear end. There was laughter though, so maybe it wasn't so far off.

"San," Quinn said, once they realized she might seriously carry out her threat. "I'm sure Kurt and all of us would appreciate if you didn't shove a hot curling iron anywhere on his body."

Santana sighed. "Well then tell him to stay away from me with that makeup kit of his. If I wanted more color on my cheeks I would've done it before!"

"You look like a zombie corpse," Kurt retorted, from his safe hiding place behind Mercedes. "Tina has more color than you."

"Who invited him to this again?" Quinn muttered.

"Me," Rachel said, sheepishly. "I just figured he was good with makeup and it might make this whole process easier. And more enjoyable."

Santana rolled her eyes, placing the curling iron down at last. She cocked her head to the side taking in Rachel's dress. "You clean up well, midget. I approve."

Rachel grinned. "You don't look so bad yourself, Satan."

Santana twirled, running her hands down her red clad sides. "Well, when you earn a certain reputation, you have to live up to it."

"Well, I think you look awesome," Brittany added from where she lay sprawled across Rachel's bed with Tina.

"Thanks, babe," Santana grinned in her direction.

After an initial period of awkwardness that lasted all of the five minutes it took both girls to just say the hell with it, Santana and Brittany were back on track. Thanks to Santana now living with the Berry family, Rachel knew that the two former cheerleaders had a serious heart to heart talk where they both realized they were awesome friends but not anything more. Santana was slowly coming to terms with being bisexual and Brittany was still with Artie. All in all, it wasn't a bad ending for something that was a huge disaster only three days before.

"Seriously though, why isn't Blaine here?"

"Sam and Puck kidnapped him on his way here," Rachel replied, shaking her head. "They said he needed some manly bonding time. Really, I think they just wanted to make sure he wouldn't try to run for it."

"I'm worried about him," Santana admitted.

"He's going to be fine," Brittany chimed in. "I promise."

Santana narrowed her eyes. "What did you do?"

Brittany blinked with her best innocent face (which was pretty damn innocent given that it was in fact Brittany). "Remember that thing you told me to stop doing to our friends?"

"Yes, pick pocketing is bad even when you know them. And for that matter give Kurt back his wallet." Brittany frowned before handing Kurt back his wallet. To his credit, Kurt did not react outwardly. Although he did subtly check to make sure everything was there. "So you stole Blaine's wallet?"

"Actually I borrowed his phone to call in some reinforcements for tonight. Blaine is going to be just fine tonight," Brittany beamed.

"Girls and Kurt, the boys are here!" Hiram's voice drifted up the stairs, preventing anyone from further questioning Brittany or her mysterious reinforcements.

There was an excited squeal as they all rushed to finish getting ready. As they were walking down the stairs (making their grand entrances as Kurt demanded), Rachel felt a sudden pang of anxiety. She knew it was stupid. She knew that Puck wasn't expecting anything out of this. But that was the problem. What if he was only dealing with all this because they were supposed to perform at the prom? He never actually asked her to prom. She just assumed they were going. But what if he didn't care. What if he wasn't amazed by her pretty dress and the hours it took to do her hair like this? What if he didn't buy her a corsage?

She didn't realize she was at the bottom of the stairs until she felt someone tap her on the nose. Blinking, she took a step back to see an amused pair of hazel eyes. The owner of those eyes was smiling soft at her… and holding up a single pink rose.

"You look amazing," he whispered. She took the flower and smiled back at him. That's when she noticed the box in his other hand. "My mother sends her regards and a corsage."

"Thank you, Noah," she giggled as he slid the matching rose corsage onto her wrist. "It's beautiful. Just… thank you."

He kissed her on the nose, mindful of Kurt's yelling in the background about not ruining her makeup. "Prom might not mean a lot to me but it means a lot to you. And you mean a lot to me, so I'm going to make damn sure this night is perfect."

She looped her arm around his and sighed dreamily. "It already is."

It was the perfect start to what she hoped would be a perfect evening. But of course, the ignorant minded student body of McKinley High were working over time to make sure that it was a less than perfect evening. As she was walking towards the gym where the prom was being held, she felt a worrying sensation of fear in her stomach. She wondered idly if she picked up some of Blaine's nervousness or if there was really something to be worried about. She realized the answer a little too late. She was behind her two friends as they pulled the doors open to find two of the hockey team members bearing Slushies.

Rachel gasped in horror as they held their hands to toss the cold drinks on her two friends. She started to move forward when Puck held her back. He simply pointed ahead and that's when she noticed the hands that were holding the cups were now empty and the contents were all over their would be tormentors. Blaine and Santana exchanged wide eyed glances.

"That's a good look for you, Avery," Dave smirked. "Matches your eyes."

"What the hell, Karofsky?" the captain of the hockey team sputtered as he, and his friend, both wiped away the cold drink. "You're hanging with the fags now?"

"If the alternative is you then I think that's a hell yes."

"I think you missed the part where the glee club is officially off the target list," Puck said, stepping forward. "From now on you and your little team of bitches are going to back off. We're done taking crap from you assholes. You mess with one of us you mess with all of us." Lauren, who was standing beside Dave, smirked as well. "Now, spread the word and do us all a favor and clean yourselves up. You look ridiculous."

Rachel watched as the two bullies stomped away leaving a trail of red ice in their wake. Puck looked over at Dave and Lauren. "Seriously, dude, cutting that a little close, weren't we?"

"I'm sorry," Dave shrugged. "Got distracted."

"By what?"

"By the horrible fashion sense of the junior class," Dave replied, deadpan. "Some of these dresses and suits look like they're straight out of the Eighties. I know retro chic is back in but enough is enough."

Blaine surprised them all by snickering first. "Really? That was too gay for even me."

"I try," Dave clapped him on the shoulder. "No, actually I got distracted by Artie, Sam and Mike. It seems that they've caught a case of Puckerman disease."

Puck's eyes widened. "Those bastards! They're trying to spike Coach Sylvester's punch without me?" Rachel didn't even bother to catch up with what he was talking about. She only accepted the hasty kiss before he dashed off to where the three boys were sitting with their heads bowed, obviously plotting. She shook her head. The more things changed, the more they stayed the damn same.

"Thanks," Santana said, dragging her out of her thoughts. She was looking at Lauren. "You know for making sure this dress didn't get ruined."

"Of course," Lauren nodded. "Gleeks stick together."

"That we do. I think I could get used to this whole anti bullying campaign Puck's started. Especially with our gleek muscle around," Santana threw a wink in Dave's direction. Lauren looped her arm through Dave's.

"We do make a good team," Dave agreed.

"Now this is the kind of gay boyfriend I could get used to." Dave blushed but Rachel could see the smile on his face. Rachel found herself smiling in response. If anyone would've told her six months ago that she would be proud to call David Karofsky her friend, she probably would've run the other direction in fear. But then again she definitely never imagined herself living with her best friend forever, Santana or dating Puck. So clearly the Rachel of six months ago was a Rachel that was better left in the past. Her future was much brighter.

"So it's time to get our Michael on!"

* * *

The first song of the evening went well. Blaine was a natural performer and any lingering traces of anxiety were put to the side as he led them through the song. They had the whole place dancing and singing along. Blaine only got better once Brittany's 'reinforcements' arrived. Rachel didn't think she was ever so happy to see the Dalton uniform as she was when Blaine's whole face lit up at the presence of the Warblers (though the new lead, Sebastian, left a lot to be desired). The rest of the gleeks happily forfeit a couple of songs in order to let the Blaine and the Warblers perform. She was currently dancing with Puck to their rendition of _Teenage Dream_. If the version Kurt heard was half as good as this, she totally understood why he fell in love at first sight.

"He's drooling," Puck murmured in her ear. She glanced over at Kurt to see that he was the only one on the dance floor that was watching the group on the stage completely captivated. Rachel was sure if she squinted she would see a little bit of drool on the corners of his mouth. She didn't really blame him. "He's so beyond obvious."

"Well, it's his first crush where it might actually be returned."

Puck smiled mysteriously. "Oh, I'd say there is a good chance it's returned."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "You know gossip. You spill now!"

"Am I your boyfriend or your girlfriend?"

"You're my everything," she leaned in for a chaste kiss. "Now spill!"

He chuckled, resting his hands on her hips. "Blaine likes Kurt. I think he feels that he has pretend otherwise because Kurt really wasn't one of us in the beginning. That's why Quinn and Britt have been working at trying to include Kurt in things lately. They want Blaine to know its ok for him to like Kurt. Could be worse. He could get a crush on Finn."

Rachel snorted, remembering Kurt's unfortunate crush on his future stepbrother. "Yes, I think that's for the best." She wound her arms around his neck. "I love you."

A soft smile spread across his lips. "I love you too."

"This night is everything I wanted it to be and more," she said, solemnly.

"And it's only going to get better," he promised, pointing towards the stage. The Warblers (and Blaine) finished performing and were standing towards the back of the stage watching Principal Figgins. Rachel realized that it was finally time for them to announce the King and Queen. She glanced up at Puck, hoping to see some sort of sign that he had anything to do with the results but his face was a blank slate. He was getting better at this acting thing. Maybe she could persuade him to do Broadway after all.

"The results are in. This year's Prom King is…. Sam Evans." There was a polite round of applause as Sam stood beside a positively beaming Quinn. Rachel caught her gaze and the little wink at the end of it. "And the 2011 Prom Queen is….. Santana Lopez?"

The response this time was decidedly louder than before as the students all started clapping wildly. A spotlight centered on the decidedly confused Santana. Rachel looked at Quinn who was clapping and cheering as loudly as the rest of the students. She looked back to Santana in time to see that Kurt and Mercedes were pushing her towards the stage.

"You planned this," she teased, gently. His carefully put together mask cracked a little as a telltale smirk formed. "You're really a big softie."

"Yeah, I guess I am," he finally admitted. "But I actually had nothing to do with this. It turns out that McKinley might not be the great big ball of suck that we thought it was. They wrote her in without any interference from me or Britt. I guess the other students are as tired of this crap as we are. She was on all the ballots when Britt and I snuck in earlier." He paused, eyes widening. "Ooops, we gotta go. Time to sing."

"We're performing?"

"Remember how I told you it was easy to sing all the songs from _Tangled_. Well, I need you to sing one in particular."

Rachel giggled as he dragged her away. "You really are a big softie!"

"Shut up."

* * *

Santana was certain that she did something horrible in a past life that led her to this moment. Or maybe it was that she did a lot of horrible things in this current life that put her here. Whatever. The point is that she felt completely exposed. The entire student body was looking at her like they were waiting for something. Sam was standing in front of her. He was watching her cautiously. She had no idea what to do. She was out of the prom queen race. So why the hell was she prom queen?

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Sam whispered, reading her face correctly. She looked up at him, eyes wide. "I understand. It's ok."

No, it was not ok, Sam. Because last week she could pretend that she was just like everyone else in the glee club. Last week she could pretend that she wasn't totally in love with both Brittany and Sam. But now everyone knew. Everyone knew she was in love with Brittany, including Brittany. And everyone knew that Brittany was still with Artie and she was all alone. Except Sam was standing here.

"I….,"she started, swallowing. "I don't know what to do."

Then suddenly music started to play. She looked up at the stage to see Puck and Rachel. Puck had his guitar in hand and was playing a familiar song. She knew what it was before Rachel even started singing.

_All those days watching from the windows _

_All those years outside looking in _

_All that time never even knowing _

_Just how blind I've been _

_Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight _

_Now I'm here, suddenly I see _

_Standing here, it's all so clear_

_I'm where I'm meant to be _

Santana felt the tears stinging her eyes. This was definitely Puck's doing. She didn't know how but he was definitely involved in this one. She continued to stand stock still on the dance floor with the spotlight shining on her and Sam while Rachel sang with Puck accompanying her on guitar. This was her teen movie moment and she was too petrified to move. That is until she saw a hand extended in her direction. She looked up with teary eyes.

"I'm here, San. I promise it's going to be ok."

Nodding slightly, she took Sam's hand and let him pull her into her arms. She rested her head against his chest as they danced to their best friends singing the theme song from her favorite movie. This was definitely a total crappy teen romantic comedy moment.

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I need to tell you something."

He pulled away from her somewhat, still keeping a loose grip on her waist. "Brittany was my first time with girls. I'm not sure if it's just that I love Britt or what but there's that. I like girls. I've screwed around with Puck more than once. I also screwed a bunch of guys from the football, hockey and softball teams."

He looked confused. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because I need you to know why you should be walking away from this," Santana whispered in response. "You shouldn't want me."

"Too bad," he smiled softly. "I do want you. I like you just the way you are. I like the way you're ultra bitchy and sarcastic. I like the way you're not apologetic about anything. I just like you, Santana. I like everything about you."

She found a smile forming on her lips. "I like you too, Sam."

"So what do you say? Wanna give them all what they've been dropping hints like anvils for months about?"

"I think I do."

_And it's warm and real bright _

_And the world has somehow shifted _

_All at once, everything is different _

_Now that I see you _

_Now that I see you _

As Puck and Rachel finished singing, Santana had to smile as a warm set of lips met hers. She dreamed about kissing those lips and it was everything she thought it would be and more. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she found herself smiling against his lips, pulling a matching smile from him.

"Fucking finally!"

"Noah!"

* * *

"I still can't believe you ruined our amazing performance by cursing," Rachel griped.

Puck rolled his eyes but was smart enough to look appropriately shame faced. Though she knew he was hiding a smug smirk. She couldn't fault him for it. Sam and Santana were pretty much attached at the hip since they were crowned king and queen. And she felt nothing more than sheer relief that the two idiots finally got it together. They'd been dancing around the issue for so long and all it took was a little public humiliation. Rachel didn't know if she was grateful to Jesse for forcing their hand or not.

"Oh, great," Puck muttered. She looked around for the source of his distress. She knew that he, along with Finn, Sam, and Artie were supposed to perform the final song of the evening. He was getting ready to go backstage and prepare when he suddenly tensed. The source of his tension was revealed a moment later. Jesse stood on the edge of the dance floor, sharp eyes focused on Rachel.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"My guess… he wants to talk to you."

"I'm not interested," Rachel replied, stubbornly.

Puck hugged her tightly. "You are, babe. I know you. You need to talk to him. Get some closure on the whole St. Berry chapter of your life."

She hated that he was right. That was the whole reason she wanted Jesse to help them with Nationals. She wanted to close that chapter of her life but he ruined that with his stupid meddling. She cut him out of her life again and yet here he was again. It seemed like Jesse St. James was always going to be a part of her life no matter what. But so was Puck. She wasn't kidding earlier when she told him that he was her everything. She didn't want him to think that she ever rated Jesse higher than him.

"Rachel," he lifted her chin. "I know I have nothing to worry about." He held up her left hand where his grandmother's ring rested. He kissed the ring before kissing her. "That's my ring you're wearing. It's me you promised to think about forever with. I'm not worrying about St. Dumbass. I'm worrying about you. I know you need to talk to him. So talk. I'm going to go be awesome with my bros."

Rachel laughed weakly. "You're the best, Noah. I just need you to know."

"I do," he kissed her again, ignoring the impatient calls from Finn. She didn't need to look to know that Sam and Artie were also giving similar difficulties moving away from their respective girlfriends. Finally, Puck managed to tear himself away from her lips and was bounding up onto the stage but not before playfully shoving Finn. Jesse was by her side before he was even picking up the guitar.

"I don't know what you see in him."

Rachel smirked. "You don't?"

"Sure he's got a nice enough voice but he lacks finesse that'll get him ahead in this industry," Jesse commented, watching as Sam sang his part of the verse with Puck playing guitar beside him. They were grinning at one another, clearly having fun. Personally, she was never really a Hot Chelle Rae fan but after listening to this song on repeat for the past week while the boys rehearsed their performance, the band was starting to grow on her. Especially this song. Especially the parts Puck sang. Ok, so she was shallow.

"Jesse, why are you here?"

"Because I still want you, Rachel. You can't tell me that this is what you want. You used to be focused. You knew what you wanted. Now you're content to sit back and be part of the crowd. That's not the Rachel I knew."

Rachel tore her attention away from the stage. Puck meant what he said. He hadn't looked in their direction once during their performance. His attention was solely on "being awesome with his bros". He trusted her that much. He loved her that much. And she loved him enough to make sure that he never had a reason to doubt her.

"I was that way," Rachel agreed. "I was driven and focused on winning. Wining was everything. But this year has taught me a lot. It's not everything. Being on top means nothing if you're up there alone. And the way that I was going about things meant that I was destined to be alone. That man up there showed me that there is so much more to life than just winning. He showed me that winning is even better when there are people that you care winning with you. People that love you for more than just your voice."

Jesse looked at her. "There's no chance for us, is there?"

She shook her head. "No," she replied without a hint of regret. "I love him. I don't know what my future holds. It could be Broadway or not. But I do know that it very much involves him and Santana, Sam, Tina, Brittany, Artie, Mike, Quinn and Blaine… really just all of them. We might lose at Nationals. But if we do then we lose as a family and we learn from our mistakes and try again next year."

"I don't understand."

"I know you don't. I don't expect you to. But just know that it's really over between us, Jesse. I'm not the Rachel you knew anymore. That Rachel died on a Sunday morning over Chinese food and Funny Girl. She's never coming back. I realize that there are more important things than winning."

_We're goin' at it tonight, tonight _

_There's a party on the rooftop_

_Top of the world tonight, tonight _

_And we're dancin' on the edge of the Hollywood sign _

She leaned up on her tiptoes. "Goodbye, Jesse," she kissed him on the cheek before rushing over to where Blaine, Tina, Brittany and Mike were holding court in the center of the dance floor. Or more like Blaine and Tina were amusing themselves while Brittany and Mike were showing off their dance moves. She watched as Brittany and Mike twirled around the center of the crowd, earning more than a few envious stares. Tina and Blaine were soon joined by Quinn who was dancing with them. Rachel stood at the edge of the appreciative crowd before she felt an arm wind around her waist. She felt a chin rest on her shoulder before she leaned her head against the dark head pressed against hers.

"So, I know it's early and all but I'm totally calling this as the best night ever."

Rachel grinned, lacing her fingers through Santana's. "Yeah, I think it's a fair call to make." They stayed like that for only a few moments before Quinn, Tina and Brittany were forcing them to dance with them. She found that a few of the Warblers had stuck around and were dancing with the gleeks. It was fun. She looked up at the stage and saw Puck staring at her. She beamed at him in response. Tonight was perfect.

_Just don't stop, let's keep the beat pumpin'_

_Keep the beat up, let's drop the beat down_

_It's my party, dance if I want to_

_We can get crazy, let it all out_

"Alright! Which one of you degenerates spiked the punch?"

* * *

*Whew, and it's done. This was the longest chapter I've ever written. Ever. Feels pretty awesome. Any way, I don't want anyone to panic but I'm taking a little bit of a break from this story. Prom has totally worn me out. Well that and my attention has been taken by the damn Operation: Endgame 'verse again. So expect a new story in that little world soon. I've also got another story I've been working on that's completely different for me. It's like a fairytale, glee style. So look for those…. Sometime in the near future. Hope you enjoyed this story. Don't worry it's not over yet. I've got at least one more chapter all planned out. Ciao for now!


	13. New York State of Mind

**Summary**: Rachel has always lived for her future. Fortunately, she has her fellow gleeks and a certain Mohawk sporting badass to teach her about living (and loving) in the present.

**Pairings**: Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, Samtana, past Brittana, hints of Klaine. Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Faberrittana friendship.

**Warnings**: This contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own this show or anything related to this show. I

**Author's Note**: Hello all! It's been awhile. I'm really very sorry for the year long delay. That's excessive even for me! And while I'm not really watching the show that much anymore, I have gotten my mojo back as far as writing is concerned, so I think I should be coming out with some more _Glee_ stuff soon. So here is the first part of the New York arc. I hope you enjoy. Think of this as my birthday/anniversary gift to you all. April 27 is not only my birthday but it's also the 12 year anniversary of me writing fanfics. I figured I needed to update with something epic. And I hope it is. Enjoy!

* * *

**New York State of Mind**

"Ah, I love the smell of vomit in the morning," Rachel commented lightly as she leaned against the questionably clean sink behind her. She didn't receive an answer nor did she expect to. She imagined it was difficult for Santana to hear over the sound of her own retching. Quinn stood beside her, gagging in sympathy. Tina, on the other hand, was too busy wallowing in her own self imposed guilt.

"Maybe I went a touch overboard," Tina winced as Santana continued to vomit in the middle stall of the airport bathroom the four girls were gathered in. "How was I supposed to know she was afraid of flying? She's Santana! She's not afraid of anything!"

"Except, apparently, planes," Rachel pointed out. Tina sighed, looking more than a little remorseful. She squeezed the Goth's shoulder before making her way to Santana's stall. Silence reigned over the bathroom and Rachel hoped that the worst was over. She knocked on the closed door lightly. "San, you ok?"

Rachel didn't bother to wait for an answer. She instead pushed the stall door open, frowning at the sight she found. Santana was on her knees on the floor with her head against the toilet seat. With a grimace, Rachel reached over her friend to flush the toilet. She then carefully peeled Santana off the very unhygienic seat and propped her up against her leg.

"I guess that was a stupid question," Rachel mused, running her fingers through Santana's hair. "Why didn't you tell us you're afraid of flying?"

Santana snorted. "Didn't really know I was until Tina started quoting all those plane crash stats. I didn't really have time to clue you in before your dad's breakfast decided to make its grand repeat performance."

"I am so sorry, Santana!" Tina apologized joining the two girls in the stall. She took a seat on the toilet so that she could better look the Latina in the eye. "I was just trying to mess with Mike. I didn't know that you would start throwing up and I feel really, really, really horrible. And I'm so, so, so, so sorry!"

Santana rolled her eyes before smacking Tina on the leg. "It's cool, Hello Kitty. Thanks for being the one to pull my hair back."

Tina smiled softly. "No problem. It's what glirls are for."

"And I'm sorry, Rach," Santana sighed, closing her eyes. Rachel continued to run her fingers through her friend's hair.

"For what?"

"This is probably not how you imagined your trip to New York starting," she grinned. Rachel laughed, shaking her head slightly.

"Well, you're right. I definitely didn't think we'd be sitting in a bathroom stall but it's not all bad." Santana cracked an eye open with a question clearly writing in her gaze. Rachel smiled wider. "When Mr. Schue first mentioned that Nationals was in New York, I really didn't think that we'd make it. But then during Sectionals, I knew we would. I just didn't think I would actually have friends when we made the trip."

Quinn's head appeared around the stall door along with a bottle of water that she handed to Santana. "You know, I almost forget that we weren't always like this." She shook her head. "Isn't' that weird? We started off the school year at each other's throats and now we're like best friends."

"We're not _like_ best friends," Santana corrected, before taking a long sip of water. "We are best friends. Guess we finally just grew up. It happens sometimes."

Rachel smiled again, basking in the warm fuzzy feelings that only her friends could give. Well, her friends and the Mohawk sporting not quite as bad as he thought boy that was currently peeking his head around the door of the bathroom. It was Quinn who noticed him first. She tapped Rachel on the arm, prompting her to lean out the stall. Puck was standing at the door of the bathroom with his eyes squeezed shut tightly. Beside him stood a highly amused Blaine.

"You know you could've just asked Mercedes or Britt to go in," Blaine pointed out. "Especially since you have yet to actually go in!"

"Shut up!" Puck snapped. "I just didn't want to be accused of being a perv or something."

"Aw, you care."

Puck cracked an eye open to glare at the former Warbler. "Keep it up and I'm going to write your phone number and address on the bathroom stall at Dalton. I'm sure Sebastian's creepy ass will end up in there at some point."

"Try it and I swear I will shave your hair."

"Touch my hair and I swear I will burn all your hair gel!"

"Boys," Rachel called out teasingly. They both looked to her with mildly annoyed looks in their eyes. "Was there something you wanted or did you feel like regaling us with your strange idea of communication?"

Puck pouted before elbowing Blaine in the side. "Actually there was something we wanted. Mr. Schue is here. He said he needed to talk to all of us. Together. He looks really serious. I think something happened."

Rachel frowned but followed her boyfriend and friends out of the bathroom. When they first made their hasty retreat almost fifteen minutes ago there were significantly less gleeks gathered by the gate. It was only the four girls, Sam, Mike, Blaine and Puck. Now the whole club and their plus one were surrounding their teacher. Rachel could see that Will was looking unusually pensive. His eyes lit up once he saw the girls but they quickly fell. This was serious.

"Ok, guys, now that we're all together, there's something I need to tell you. This morning, I got a phone call from Figgins. He said that it was suddenly brought to his attention that there is not enough supervision for the amount of students on this trip. Naturally all of this stems from a very 'concerned' Sue."

Rachel looked around the disappointed group. With the addition of Karofsky, there were now fifteen of them. It was a fairly large amount of teenagers but they were teenagers. The youngest of them was sixteen. They all knew the different between right and wrong. But apparently not. Their dream was slipping through their fingers with every sentences uttered by their teacher.

"I knew that Emma would go if I asked but Figgins insisted that we needed a third chaperone. I spent most of the morning on the phone with your parents asking around but no one could leave with such short notice. Then I got a volunteer."

There was a murmur of confusion that grew into a growl of displeasure from Sam when their new chaperones stepped forward. Emma blinked before giving her companion a look that showed her real feelings on the subject as well.

"What the hell is he doing here, Mr. Schue?" Sam pointed in the far too quiet Jesse's direction. "After everything he's done…."

"I know," Will sighed. "Trust me, I know. If there was any way other than this, if there was any other person than Jesse, I would go for it. But you all have worked entirely too hard to back out now. I know that Jesse has done a lot of terrible, horrible, and quite frankly, unforgiveable things but the fact is that we need another adult. Not to mention he's already been preapproved to work with the glee club. It was easy to convince Figgins to let me bring him along."

"So we trust him and let him screw us over again?" Tina asked, resting her hands on her hip. "The last time we trusted that he was on our side, he outed Santana!" Sam grunted in agreement, his arm tightening around Santana's shoulders. The former Cheerio smiled softly before shaking her head.

"We need him," she said, looking to Rachel, who nodded in silent support. "Mr. Schue has a point. He's just another body. We need him to get to New York. We deserve this. We deserve to go to Nationals. And if using St. Douchetard is going to make that happen, then so be it." She narrowed her eyes as she glared in Jesse's direction. "But know that I don't trust you. I don't like you. And if I even think that you're stepping over the line, you don't need to worry about a return flight."

There was several snorts amusement while Karofsky, Lauren, Finn and Puck all added their own dangerous smirks to the mix. Sam pressed a kiss against Santana's forehead. Will and Emma watched them with pride shining in their eyes. Rachel had to smile at the scene. If the glee kids were becoming a more familial unit then it was clear who the parents were in this strange family they built. And it seemed that Rachel wasn't the only one who noticed that either. Jesse's gaze flickered between the gleeks and their teachers with an emotion she never noticed in him before: loneliness. She gave him an encouraging smile.

"Right," Jesse said, clearing his throat. "Now that the threats and awkward Hallmark moments are over, can you tell me what I have to expect when we get there. Please tell me you've worked on something since that last time I saw you all."

Rachel spoke up before one of the others could retort. "Our set list is almost complete. We've been working on performing original songs."

"Original songs," Jesse's brow furrowed. "That's risky."

"We know," Rachel grinned. "You actually inspired us."

"I did?" Jesse looked confused. "How?"

"By reminding us that Shelby thought we were a credible threat," Santana replied. "We remembered why she felt that way."

"It's because we have something Vocal Adrenaline will never have," Quinn added.

"Functioning personalities," Artie supplied. "And souls."

"That last one is important," Sam clarified.

Jesse raised an eyebrow but a smile slowly formed on his lips. "Yeah, I guess you do. We have a nice flight from here to New York. Dazzle me with your functioning personalities and soulful originality."

Rachel's smile grew a little as the others started filling Emma and Jesse in on the songs they were working on (the hodgepodge mess that they were) and the plan for Nationals. She watched as her ex-boyfriend relaxed a little. He stopped with the caustic, cutting remarks and actually joked a little. There may be hope for Jesse St. James after all.

* * *

Despite their enthusiasm for singing original songs, they soon found that there was a huge problem with performing original songs. And that was that they had to actually write them. Even Jesse seemed stumped by the issue at hand. Will warned them they at they had to finish the songs by that afternoon, even going so far as to lock them in the room until they did. Three hours into their writing camp and they were all starting to feel a little cabin fever. Will and Emma left them alone a half an hour before bringing Dave and Lauren with them to carry pizzas. If they couldn't experience NYC, at least they could have NYC pizza. That didn't stop them from longing to be outside, however.

"This is ridiculous!" Quinn snapped, tossing her blank notepad to the floor. "We're in New York City! We should be out there exploring the sights but instead we're trapped in here!"

"Maybe we should just sing a cover song," Blaine suggested, running a hand through his curly hair. Apparently Puck didn't take threats to his hair lightly and made good on his promise to destroy Blaine's hair gel. That explained why the normally attached friends were on opposite sides of the room. "We're not coming up with anything and Q is right. There is so much to do out there."

Rachel toyed with the edge of her notebook. There was an easy solution to this problem but it was one she was hesitant to share. She had a song. It was a song she wrote during a really difficult time in her life. She didn't think any of them would even like it much less want to use it in Nationals. So really, it was best to just keep sitting there while everyone continued to struggle to write something. Mercedes' song was kind of catchy in retrospect.

"Hey, what's that?"

She was so busy musing on the not at all politically correct 'Hell to the No' that she failed to notice Santana creeping close to her on the window seat. But she finally noticed when the notebook in her lap was wrenched from her loose grasp. She protested as Santana started to read through the lyrics. The former cheerleader's eyes widened slightly as she continued to scan through the words.

"Berry, you wrote this?"

"Uh, yes, but you have to understand that I was…"

"This is amazing!" Santana smiled, brightly. "I mean it's depressing as hell but it's really good. It's a little dark though. Oh…." The smile fell as read through the lyrics again. "Oh, you wrote this when…"

Rachel flushed as realized that everyone was watching them now. "Yes, I started writing it after Sectionals but I finished it that night after the mall."

Both Finn and Puck winced but for separate reasons. Finn started to open his mouth but Puck rose to his feet to join his girlfriend in the window. Rachel met Finn's eyes for a moment and smiled softly. He nodded and went back to staring at his notebook. Rachel didn't miss the small pat that Mercedes gave him which pulled a bigger smile from Finn. Interesting. She then turned her attention to Puck who was in the process of pulling on his glasses and scanning the lyrics. Rachel chewed on her bottom lip as she noticed him lingering over some of the words for several moments. That's when she became aware of a soft humming.

"You're writing music?" she asked in quiet disbelief.

"It's a good song," Puck answered absently. "The lyrics are strong and so is your voice. We need instruments that don't overpower the vocals or the words."

Rachel blinked and shared looks with the rest of the glee club. Slowly they each nodded and smiled. And just like that Rachel's song was apparently in and she had a solo during Nationals. Even with the growth she made during the months since Sectionals, she couldn't help the feeling of satisfaction. She turned back to Puck who was still composing the music in his head and pressed a kiss against his cheek.

"What was that for?"

She grinned. "Helping me get it right."

"Always, Rach," he smiled, squeezing her hand.

"So you've got one out of three songs decided on," Jesse said. "It's Nationals. You're going to need to bring more than you do during your other performances. You're right when you say that you have 'souls'. You need to show that to the judges."

"What about another duck song?" Brittany piped up. Twelve eyebrows simultaneously rose while another just rolled his eyes.

"They're called ballads, Britt," Puck explained patiently. "But I guess that could work. Two ballads and a group number. But who really wants to sit here and write another ballad?"

There were several groans in response. Brittany's beam was positively terrifying. "We don't need to write another one. We already have one. Or actually you already have one."

Puck lunged from the window to reach Brittany but it was already too late. By the time he managed to tackle Brittany on the bed she was sitting on, the former cheerleader had already tossed Puck's notebook to Blaine. The slightly younger teen was reading even as he bounced around the room dodging Puck's clumsy attempts at retrieving it.

"Well aren't you two just the power couple?" Blaine teased, leaping over the all too accommodating Sam. "You guys could be the next Alan and Marilyn Bergman."

"I don't know who they are but if you don't give that back, I will hack your Facebook account and add Sebastian as a friend!" Puck warned. Rachel couldn't help but giggle at the less than manly squeak Blaine let out. But she noticed that he kept a tight hold on the book. "Come on, Blaine. Give it back!"

"No," Blaine said, firmly. He stood behind Santana. The Latina was acting as a barrier for the two friends, though it was apparent that she didn't know whose side she was supposed to be on. "Puck, this is a good song. It actually works really well when paired with Rachel's song."

Puck stopped straining to get around Santana and sighed. "If this is about the hair gel, I didn't actually get rid of it. I just put in Sam's suitcase."

Blaine narrowed his eyes. "Dude, you know Sam's suitcase is like the Bermuda Triangle. Things go in but they don't come out! But that's so beside the point. I'm not just saying this because you're a product stealing jerk. This is a really good song and we deserve this song so we can win."

"He's telling the truth," Brittany assured him. "It's really good, Puck."

"It would work really well as a duet," Blaine added. Puck silently gave up the battle and slumped down on the nearest bed as the rest of the club walked over to Blaine and Santana. Rachel had to only glance at some of the lyrics to know why Puck was trying so hard to hide them. As the rest of the club went over the logistics of performing the two songs, she went to stand in front of him.

"So you're tired of pretending, huh?" Puck flushed, burying his head in his hands. Rachel giggled, climbing onto his lap and forcing him to hold her steady. "Noah, the song is beautiful. And it clearly doesn't apply to us anymore. We're together and we're stronger than ever." She held up her left hand, waggling her ring finger. "We are not pretending anymore. We're in this for the long run. Ok?"

He pressed his forehead against hers before nodding. "Yeah, ok." He took a deep calming breath before turning to the rest of their friends. "So did you losers work out who is singing? Do I smell another competition inspired Finnchel duet?"

Finn rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, bro. I think we can all agree that Finnchel is a thing of the past. Even in duets. Besides, it's your song. We all thought it should be you singing it."

"You all want me to sing at Nationals?" Puck asked incredulously. "You're serious?"

"Why not?" Santana challenged. "It's not like you can't sing. And Britt and Chang were thinking we could choreograph some sort of dancing into the number so the rest of us aren't standing around swaying in the background for two songs. Its bad enough we have to deal with Hudson over there. We don't need your two left feet messing up the routine. Seriously, bad dancing must be engrained in the Puckerman DNA or something."

Puck mock glared at Santana but even Rachel could tell he knew it was true. She rested her head on his shoulder as they continued to shout out ideas for the performance. She watched as Jesse was drawn into the conversation and gave helpful advice. A soft smile playing across his lips as Mike and Brittany demonstrated the choreography they were thinking of implementing. Looks like Jesse was finally down with being a loser like the rest of them. She gasped.

"I think I have an idea for our final song!"

* * *

For the longest, Rachel envisioned New York City, more specifically Broadway, as her home. She always thought that when she walked along the Great White Way she would finally feel like she was where she belonged. But standing in front of the theater hosting _Wicked_, she was surprised that she didn't feel that way at all. It was true that she still wanted to see her name in lights. She still imagined herself on stage performing for the entire world but strangely she didn't feel the acceptance she always thought she would.

"Hey, Rachel?"

She turned gaze away form the theater and on to Blaine who was glancing over his shoulder warily. "Yes, Blaine?"

"That show, _Cats_, has been closed for awhile, right?"

"Yes."

"Ok, I think we might want to walk away. Some dude just tried to sell me like twenty tickets. He then told me to swipe my credit card on his butt crack."

Santana snorted. "NYC is awesome!" Blaine looked horrified, prompting Rachel to loop her arm through his.

"I think I'm traumatized," Blaine moaned. Santana laughed louder. "Keep laughing but see if I help you with the choreography later."

"I'm just kidding, you big warbling baby," Santana protested, grabbing his free arm. "Come on, I'm tired of staring at one theater. And if we're not going to break in as previously suggested, then I suggest we move on before Blaine's hobo friend comes looking for him to sell us tickets to _Aida_ or some crack."

Rachel giggled and allowed the two of them to drag her forward. She didn't need to look to know that Kurt was silently following after them. She was a little surprised that he was tagging along with them. She knew he wanted to tour Broadway and do a little sightseeing but she thought he was planning that with Mercedes. Then again almost as soon as Will had approved their song choices, Mercedes disappeared. Rachel really didn't give it too much thought at the time as her own boyfriend pulled his own vanishing act along with his usual crew. Tina and Quinn left claiming they were getting their "ninja" on and Finn was also similarly missing. No wonder Kurt had no choice but to hang with them.

"Rach, can I just say that I sincerely hope you get a show close to the train station," Santana's voice dragged her out of her thoughts. "Because these bootleg cobblestones are murder on my stilettos."

"That's your own fault," Rachel chided. "Most people hear sightseeing and think sensible shoes. You hear sightseeing and think stiletto boots and the hooker dress to match."

"Sam didn't mind," Santana smirked.

"Sam wouldn't mind you wearing a sack," Blaine pointed out. "You really don't have to try so hard with him. Or try at all since he's like totally and completely in love with you."

Santana's face flushed before she smacked Blaine on the arm. "I don't mean to…. it's just…sometimes I don't get why he wants me."

"Same reason why we put up with you," Blaine replied, sighing as if he were actually put out about admitting it. But Rachel saw the smile on his lips. "Because you're awesome, San."

"I am, aren't I," Santana smirked. "You know what else would be awesome."

"What?"

"If you gave me a piggy back ride." Blaine stopped walking to stare at Santana. The former cheerleader stuck out her bottom lip. "Please, Blaine. My feet hurt!"

"It's your own fault," Blaine pointed out, halfheartedly. Rachel knew he was already resigned to being Santana's designated ride for the afternoon. He sighed. "The things I do for my friends."

"Yay!" Santana cheered before pouncing onto his back. The pair giggled and snickered as they struggled to find a balance. Once they were situated, Rachel kept walking, making sure to stay close in case Blaine lost his steadiness. "You know what I love about New York?"

"What's that?"

"That no one is even blinking an eye at the fact that I'm on Blaine's back," Santana grinned, resting her chin on top of Blaine's head. "It's like they don't even care. New York City is so awesome."

"Yeah," Rachel agreed, smiling wistfully. "New York City is great."

"What's wrong?" Blaine asked, tilting his head in her direction.

"It's nothing… it's stupid."

"Rach, don't make me come down there," Santana warned. Rachel snorted.

"It's just that I thought New York was all I ever wanted. And it kind of still is… But I don't know if it's worth everything I would have to give up."

"Like what?" Kurt's voice was soft and questioning. Rachel paused, lifting her arm to allow him to loop his arm through hers. He smiled in acknowledgement of the inclusion before focusing on her earlier words. "What do you have to give up, Rachel?"

"This," Rachel admitted, reluctantly, glancing over at Santana and Blaine. "I have to give up this. It's crazy but a year ago I couldn't imagine anything other than living in New York and making my dreams come true. But now I can't really imagine life without you guys."

Silence settled over the four teens before Blaine broke it with a loud scoff. Rachel gave him a confused look. "I can't speak for the rest of the gleeks but I fully intend to be here when I graduate. You're not the only one who wants to see their name in lights, Rach. And I think it's reasonably safe to say that when that moment happens, you're not going to be alone."

"The Hobbit is right," Santana chimed in, smiling softly at Rachel. "You are very far from the only gleek that wants to keep doing this forever. Besides, in case you forgot, I kinda got booted out of my family and adopted into yours. That makes us sisters. That means that where you go, I go. And if you're going to New York, well then I guess I'll make that work."

Rachel smiled softly, reaching up with her free hand to link her pinky with Santana's briefly. "I think I can live with that."

"Well you're going to have to," Santana retorted with a smirk. "You're also going to have to learn how to talk to that boyfriend of yours about things that are bothering you. I'm pretty sure that 'this' that you speak of is pretty heavily concentrated on a certain Puck."

Rachel flushed but didn't bother trying to deny it. "It's just that Noah hasn't really talked about college or the further. I mean given everything he's been through this year, that's understandable. But I just… don't know. He's probably not going to want to leave his mother and sister behind in Lima."

"I know you and Puck are like soul mates and understand each other on a deep spiritual level or something but I understand him on a bro level. Talk to him before you make assumptions. You might be surprised."

Rachel gave a brief nod, letting the issue rest for the moment. As they continued to walk, and be ignored by the far too jaded New Yorkers, a thought occurred to Rachel but was voiced by Blaine.

"So you understand Puck on a bro level and it's safe to say that Sam and Puck are like actual bros at this point."

Santana shrugged. "Yeah, I guess they are living the bromantic life. Why?"

"Doesn't that mean you and Sam are like bros too?" Blaine pointed out with a grin. He tilted his head up towards Santana. "That's all sorts of creepy and wrong."

"I despise you, Hobbit!"

"Love you too, Satana."

Rachel laughed and smiled wistfully. Santana was right. Part of her "this" was about Puck but she honestly didn't want to imagine living in New York without these people either.

* * *

"Get your shit. We got a plan!"

Rachel blinked at the words that greeted them upon their return to the room she and Santana were sharing with Tina and Brittany. Finn, Quinn, Tina and Mercedes were still out. Jesse was working with Dave and Lauren on vocals and choreography (Rachel made a mental note to be surprised about that later). But during their tour of Broadway, the other members of New Directions had returned and were strewn about the room in their normal state of disarray. And they apparently had a plan.

"A plan for what?"

Brittany and Puck rolled their eyes in perfect unison. Rachel has mentioned that she's concerned about the amount of the time they're spending together, right? They sat side by side on one of the hotel beds. Sam was lying sideways behind them playing some portable gaming system that seemed to be connected to one in Artie's hands. Mike was sitting on the floor beside Artie's wheelchair, watching the pair's game and goading them both on. Despite their seeming disinterest in whatever the wonder twins were plotting now, the three other teens kept giving exasperated looks that they all interpreted to mean that they should be sitting down on the empty bed.

"So what are you two scheming this time?" Santana asked even as she sat on edge of the free bed, toeing off her boots. Sam wordlessly sat up, stopped his game, and pulled girlfriend's no doubt aching feet across the gap between the beds and onto his lap, before resuming his game. Santana beamed in his direction.

"I don't know if any of you have noticed but Ms. P and Mr. Schue have been dancing around this whole couple thing for the past two years," Puck replied. "It's a little sickening. It's a lot like the whole Samtana thing but more annoying because they're old and they should know better. I thought that after Ms. P got rid of the hot dentist that Schue would step his game up but then he was all over that crazy sub. So Britt and I decided to give them a little help."

"Yeah," Britt chimed in. "We figured we should help them so that they can together sooner rather than later. Lord Tubbington is waiting to be ring bearer at their wedding. If they wait any longer he won't fit his suit."

"So this is what it feels like," Kurt mused.

"What?"

"Being directly involved in one of their schemes."

"Terrifying, isn't it?"

"Very."

To say that it was a Puck and Brittany plot, the plan was surprisingly uncomplicated…. and very romantic. They split into two groups. The girls convinced Emma that they wanted to dress up and try a fancy restaurant in the city. The boys managed to convince Will to do the same. When it came time for the two teachers to meet with their assigned group in the hotel's lobby, they found only each other. The teens stayed hidden within the lobby as the concierge meet the budding couple to tell them that they had reservations at Chez Pierre (a restaurant that Rachel was later informed was Emma's dream to eat at and apparently very exclusive. She really didn't want to know what Brittany or Puck did to score that one).

That was only part one of their plan. So while their teachers dined on really expensive French food over candlelight, the gleeks ate food from one of the many food trucks on park bench. But Rachel freely admitted that the extra greasy and salty falafel she choked down was worth it once she saw the smile on Will and Emma's faces after they left the restaurant. The smiles only grew brighter as they were treated to a street corner serenade from their serenade from their students, complete with Puck on accordion. And again Rachel really didn't want to contemplate where he got a freaking accordion from, much less when and where he learned how to play one.

After leaving Will and Emma to come to their own natural conclusion, the teens split up with Puck and Rachel wandering away to take the long walk back to their hotel. As they walked hand in hand through Union Square, Rachel told Puck about her tour of Broadway slowly building the courage to bring up the subject of college. But as Puck stopped to once again point out some aspect of the park that sounded like it fell out of a tour book, she realized something else was going on.

"Noah, what did you all do this afternoon?"

He stopped walking and pulled her to sit beside him on a bench. "So this afternoon Britt, Artie, Sammy, Mike and I, accompanied by Ms. P, went on a tour of NYU, Fordham and Julliard. We even met with admissions counselors from all three schools. Ms. P arranged it months ago. They basically said that have to really buckle down and study for the SATs but Ms. P already promised to help us with that. I think I have a really good chance of getting in. Or at least the admission people thought I did."

"Really?" Rachel groaned at the way that sounded. "Wait, not really as in I'm surprised you could get in. But really, like… you want this? You want to go to New York?"

Puck rolled his eyes. "I want to be where you are, Rachel. New York has been where you wanted to be since we were kids. It was kind of a no brainer really. And naturally, that means that Chang is coming along. And if you're here, no doubt that Satan and Quinn will be here. And we cannot forget my partner in crime. I straight up refuse to be in the city that never sleeps without Britt. Blaine, Sammy, Tina and Wheels will get their asses up here when they finally graduate. It's simple really."

Rachel just smiled. "So you're really planning on us all being together forever?"

He leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss against her lips. "I want this forever, Rach. Or as long as I can have it." Her eyes closed even as he rested his forehead against hers. "I don't know what the future has in store for us. I want to say that we're together forever but I'm a chronic screw up. I know it and you know it. One day you might want something more… something better. And I'm not going to hold you back if you do. But I do know that I want to try to at least be the one that gives you that something better. I gotta try."

Rachel pulled away so that she could better see him. "Noah, don't you understand…. You already have. When I think about who I was this time last year and who I am now… it's so different. You helped me create this world where I have my dreams and friends. You don't try to change me. You let me be me and you love me for me. I don't think it gets better than that." She brushed a hand over his cheek. "And I don't care if we end up in New York or Lima or even Montana. We're going to be together. I get that now."

Puck nodded slowly. "Yeah, together," he whispered. "I love you, Rachel Berry. I love you so freaking much."

"I know," she smiled. "I love you too. You woke up for me."

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You gave me something worth waking up for." He kissed her forehead. "But, babe, can you promise me one thing?"

"Yes?"

"Can we give New York a try? Because I don't really think I want to live in Montana."

She giggled, swatting him on the chest. "I think I want to give that a try too," she closed the remaining distance between to meet his waiting lips.

No, she didn't know what life had in store for them. Hell, she didn't really know what Nationals had in store for them but she knew that they were in this together. She wasn't lying or exaggerating when she said that Puck gave her balance. He brought friendship and love into her life without forcing her to choose between that and her dreams. She was able to have both. For the first time in her life, she could see how she could have both. And she owed it all to this boy. No matter what life tossed at them, she was going to field it because he loved her enough to give her that.

As she melted further into his arms, not caring the least bit about anyone that was passing by, she felt his phone vibrate against her leg. She pulled away with a frown but the small bit of satisfaction that he was every bit as disgruntled about it as she was. His disgruntled face grew as he held the phone out to her. "It's from Q. It's a message for you."

She stared at the message with confusion in her eyes. The blonde was declaring an emergency glirl meeting in Rachel's room. Apparently she had life altering news. The fact that the other girl knew to send the message to Puck's phone told Rachel that Quinn knew exactly what she was tearing her away from. That meant that the news had to be major. Or at least it damn well better.

"I swear if life as we know it is not about to completely and irrevocably change, I'm going to rip her pretty little blonde head off."

"You've really been hanging out with Satan too long."

"You think?"

* * *

*Hi! I'm ending here because if I didn't, I swear it would be another year before you got this chapter. This story has been in development Hell since the prom chapter. I largely blame _The Avengers _for that one. But I really wanted to give you this and so here we are. I hope you enjoyed.

P.S. I'll be bringing in a new character in the next installment (hopefully). I gave a subtle hint in his chapter. See if you can figure out who. What do you win? Uh, well nothing except my utter and complete adoration (which you already had for sticking with this story for this long!). Ciao for now! Hopefully it won't take me another year this time for part two of their New York trip.


	14. New York New York!

**Summary**: Rachel has always lived for her future. Fortunately, she has her fellow gleeks and a certain Mohawk sporting badass to teach her about living (and loving) in the present.

**Pairings**: Puckleberry, Bartie, Chang-squared, hints of Samtana, mentioned Brittana, hints of Klaine. Puck/Rachel/Santana/Sam friendship, Faberry friendship.

**Warnings**: This contains spoilers up to "A Very Glee Christmas". It pretty much goes AU after that for obvious reasons.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own this show or anything related to this show. If I did, there never would've been Brochel and the disaster that was Klaine breaking up because Blaine cheated. As if. And what was up with the sudden Bram relationship…. Point is, I don't write for this show. Kinda obviously.

**Author's Note**: Hello all! Here is the next installment. Please read the Author's Note at the end of the chapter. Got a bit of a dilemma going on and need some feedback. Thanks! Hope you enjoy.

* * *

**New York, New York**

In the end, Rachel did not have to rip Quinn's pretty little blonde head off because while it wasn't quite as serious as she made it out to be, life was somewhat changed. As it stands, Rachel would be keeping an eye on Quinn and Tina's budding sisterhood because it seemed to lead them to do… questionable things. And if anyone out of the glirls were going to be questionable, it was her and Santana…. She really was going to need to reevaluate the amount of time she spent with Santana. It was having an effect on her moral compass. And not in a good way.

"So let me get this straight, when you two took off this afternoon, it was so you could follow Mercedes around," Santana said, staring at Tina and Quinn who stood in the center of the hotel room. "And you found her doing something so shocking that it was going to turn the whole glee club on its head?"

"Was she hanging out with the competition or something?" Rachel asked. "Because that's about as shocking as I think Mercedes can get."

"She's dating Finn," Brittany chimed in. Rachel and Santana both turned to question her seemingly off the wall comment when they noticed the shocked (and disappointed faces of both Quinn and Tina). Brittany shrugged. "I thought everyone knew that. Oh, this is like that that time when we weren't supposed to know that Quinn had a boyfriend but pretty much everyone did."

"How did you know?" Tina asked in disbelief.

Brittany rolled her eyes. "How did you just now find out?

"I'm sorry. Can we get back to the issues at hand here which is that Mercedes and Finn are together?! Since friggin when?"

Quinn crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "From what Tina and I gathered, it's been going on since prom night. You know they went together, right?"

"Wait, Finn and Mercedes went to prom... together? I thought Mercedes went with Kurt."

"It was like some kind of group date thing," Tina replied, waving her hand. "But then Kurt pretty much ditched them throughout the prom so he could stalk Blaine. And I guess one thing led to another and here we are. Mercedes and Finn are a couple. We totally caught them kissing and holding hands at the Bronx Zoo today!"

"You followed them all the way to the Bronx?" Santana arched an eyebrow. "You two are kinda scary together. You know that?"

"Thank you," they replied in stereo. "So now you all know." Brittany cleared her throat. "Ok, so now you two know because Brittany has apparently known this whole time. The question is what we are going to do about it."

"What are we supposed to do about it?" Santana asked. "It's not a big deal. Everyone in this club has hooked up with someone else."

"Yes, but it's Finn!" Tina emphasized. "In case you missed the giant clue by four here, he's not exactly known for being the best boyfriend in the world." Both Quinn and Rachel glared. "You can thank me later for pointing out what you're both too chicken to say. Finn sucks as a boyfriend. And as much as Mercedes can be a pain in the ass, she doesn't deserve Finn and his capriciousness."

"So… intervention?" Rachel suggested.

"Intervention!"

And so that is how an hour later, Mercedes Jones found herself seated in the middle of Rachel's room with Tina, Quinn, Brittany, Santana, Rachel and Kurt all staring at her. They made the choice to bring Kurt in after much deliberation. While Blaine may have been the obvious choice for the glirl intervention, he was tainted by the boys. And Mercedes might respond better with the more familiar face of her best friend in the room. After being informed of the reasons behind this hastily thrown together intervention, Kurt was naturally very much on board with the plan.

"I know that you're confused as to why we've asked you here," Quinn started. "And so help me, Britt, if you open your mouth!" she cleared her throat. "Anyway, I know that you're confused but…"

"You guys are concerned about me dating Finn," Mercedes interrupted. For the second time that evening Quinn and Tina looked shocked. If it wasn't such a serious topic, Rachel might've been amused. "I saw you two when we were at the zoo. Tina, for future reference, when trying to 'get your ninja' on, you might want to hide the neon pink streaks in your hair. And Quinn, the same goes for. Bright blue is not the best ninja color."

Both girls looked at their attire and sighed. "I quit. This ninja business is not all it's cracked up to be."

Rachel shook her head before focusing her attention on Mercedes. "Ok, so nothing changes. You still went on a date with Finn. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that a cute boy that happens to be my friend asked me out and it was nice. What's so wrong about that?" she tilted her head to the side. "Unless you guys think that I'm not good enough for him."

Santana was the first to break the incredulous silence that settled over the room with an ungraceful snort. "Because that makes total sense. Look Aretha, you and I were not built to be besties because we're too damn similar. So you know that I'm not going to sugarcoat this for you. Guys like Finn seem perfect on the surface. They pay you a couple of compliments, make you feel pretty but then they end up treating you like crap and tossing you to the side once they get whatever it is that they're looking for."

"And what exactly do you think Finn is looking for from me?"

"I don't actually know but I do know that Finn is a crap boyfriend and possibly crap human being. He's only going to use you, Mercedes, and even you don't deserve that."

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Did it ever occur to any of you that I'm not stupid? I'm also not naïve. I don't think that Finn and I are going to have some epic love that's going to last the ages. I don't even think we'll get to the love part. But I like hanging out with him. And he makes me feel like I'm actually someone important. I don't understand why I don't deserve that."

Rachel sighed as the intervention went downhill from there. This wasn't quite what she had in mind when it came to talking to Mercedes about her new relationship but she supposed it made sense. Of course the girl would be defensive. Wasn't Rachel the exact same way when Mercedes and Kurt were questioning her about Puck? Back then the idea of Puck being in a loving, committed relationship with the same girl was probably confusing. But that was the image that Puck put out into the world… at the time. But he changed. And so did Finn. Maybe it was time to find out how much.

Rachel slipped out the room without saying a word. She knew her absence wouldn't be noticeable at all given the heavy debate going on back there. She walked down the hall, following the sounds of teenage males. While the girls were doing their intervention, the rest of the boys (and Lauren) were playing video games. She walked into the room that Puck was sharing with Blaine, Mike and Sam, to find the four crowded together on one of the beds while the others were sprawled around the room in various positions. Puck paused the game when he noticed Rachel sticking her head in the door.

He opened his mouth to say something when he noticed the look on her face. A smirk tilted his lips and he turned towards Finn sitting on the floor in front of the other bed. "Time to go face the music, Hudson. Better go now while Santana is still using her words." Rachel didn't even ask how he knew what she was doing there. If Brittany knew about Finn and Mercedes then of course Puck knew. She wouldn't be surprised if those two actually did share a brain.

"Did I do something wrong?" Finn asked, climbing to his feet. Puck ignored him in favor of restarting the game. Sam cursed as he was busy watching the drama unfold. He elbowed his best friend in the ribs and his attention was back on the game. Finn sighed and joined Rachel outside the room.

They walked in silence until they were by the elevators. There were several couches and cushiony armchairs set up by the elevator banks to form a mini lounge area. Rachel sat down and motioned for Finn to have a seat. He chose to sit in the chair opposite hers despite there being enough room on the couch for them both. She shrugged, folding her legs up and resting her hands on her lap.

"Do you like her?" Rachel finally asked. "I mean, like really like her. No tricks. No caveats. Do you like Mercedes for Mercedes?"

Finn took a deep breath. "I know what everyone in this club thinks of me. And I've earned that. I started off this year on top and now I'm so far down, I don't know if I'll ever get back up. And I'm not sure that I want to." Rachel blinked. He smiled softly. "In case you haven't noticed. Popularity and I do not make for the best decisions."

Rachel shook her head, laughing quietly. "No, I don't suppose you do."

"Look, the thing is… this conversation is way overdue. I really screwed up with you, Rachel. I broke your heart. I helped make you feel like you didn't belong. I almost broke you. But Puck… Puck saved you. In two weeks, he did what I should've been doing since we first started dating."

"And that is?"

"Make sure that you know amazing you are. Because you are. You're talented and you're beautiful and you're going to make all your dreams come true. Because you deserve that, Rachel. You really do. And I know that Puck is going to be there, standing beside you, pushing you to do it."

Rachel smiled softly, feeling tears welling in her eyes. "You really think so?"

"No, I know so. You two… you two belong together. You both have flaws but you make them work when you're together. He doesn't love you in spite of your flaws. He loves you with them. And that makes him different than me. That makes him better than me." He looked down at his hands. "But even knowing that I screwed up so bad with you. With Quinn. Just in general, it took Puck almost dying for me to get it. It never should've gone that far. I was jealous that Puck got the girl, got the respect and then the solos. I honestly never meant to hurt him.

"I remember seeing the car hit him that day. I remember thinking that he was dead. I went home and I was terrified that any minute we were going to get the call that he was dead. And that it was all my fault. The day he woke up was the day that it finally clicked for me. It finally hit me that I'm a selfish bastard. Puck forgave me for putting him in a coma. He forgave me for screwing up his life. He made you guys forgive me. I'm not taking that for granted anymore. I don't want to. I want to be the guy that deserves friends like that. I want to be a better man."

Rachel's smile grew a little brighter. She could tell that he meant it. He really did mean the words coming out of his mouth. This was the Finn Hudson that she fell for. The one that she could see shining right behind the dumb jock popularity seeking exterior. This Finn was missing for far too long. She held out her hand and he took it immediately.

"Welcome back," she whispered.

"Thanks," he grinned. He squeezed her hand briefly before letting go. "I promise that I'm not after anything with Mercedes. I really do like her. She's smart. She's funny. And most importantly, she doesn't take any of that crap from me. She calls me on my BS. She won't let me hurt her."

"Ok," Rachel finally said. "I believe you."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I really believe you. I'll even go call the troops off as I'm pretty sure that they're going to give up arguing with Mercedes any minute now and just decide to take you out directly."

Finn laughed. "Have I mentioned how much more fun things are around here now that we all hang out with each other?"

"It is, isn't it?" Rachel agreed. "Also, just so we're clear, if you hurt Mercedes in any way, I will obliterate your nuts. And then I will turn you over to Santana. Are we clear?"

Finn paled, nodding his head. "Yeah, we're clear." He cleared his throat. "I guess Puck's been giving out how to be a badass lessons."

"No, that was Santana," she smiled. "But Noah did teach me how to be a better person. I think he'll show you too." He nodded again. And that was all that needed to be said between them. Rachel wasn't sure when things changed between her and Finn but she was happy with where they were.

When she started the school year off, she was so in love with the idea of being in love with Finn Hudson. She didn't realize how toxic they were for each other. They really did bring out the worst in one another. She got it now. And then when everything happened with Puck… she never thought she could forgive him. She didn't really, despite what she told Puck on a daily basis. But now, sitting in the quiet of the lounge area, she realized that she could forgive. Never forget but she could forgive. And maybe one day she could learn to be friends with Finn again.

"Hudson!"

That is after she calmed Santana and Quinn down and reassured them that Finn meant Mercedes no harm. Because that seemed to be a little bit more pressing at the moment. She glanced down the hall to find the two former Cheerios storming down the hall towards their quiet little summit. Blaine was with them now, gleefully filming the entire experience. They were really going to have limit the amount of time he spent with Brittany and Puck. She was also making a mental note to ask what genius let Santana near a baseball bat and how exactly did she manage to sneak that one into the hotel.

* * *

Given how they started their journey to New York, Rachel couldn't help but silently marvel at the irony of winding up in the bathroom once again. At least this time, Santana was standing beside her with concern in her eyes as Tina was the one hunched over the toilet, vomiting up a serious case of nervousness and possibly every meal from the previous week. Well at least this time the bathroom was decidedly much cleaner than the one at the airport.

"Tina, you good in there?" Santana called once the retching slowed down. She was rewarded with another gag. She winced. "I'm just going to go in there… check on her." Rachel nodded even as her best friend walked away to join Tina in the stall.

She could hear Santana humming something and smiled. Her conversation with Finn from earlier in the week came back to her. Things were much more interesting now that they were all hanging out together. And they really had come far as a glee club and as a family. There was not a single person that hadn't changed since Puck's decision to force Santana and Rachel together during Christmas break. And Rachel knew that biggest change was in herself. She was a different person now.

This was proven to be true when Vocal Adrenaline's star walked into the bathroom just a few moments after Santana left to help Tina. The petite singer didn't notice Rachel standing at the sink as she had a phone pressed against her ear. There were tears in her eyes and Rachel didn't remember her being that small. She looked scared, sad and fragile. Rachel wondered if she looked this bad when she stupidly sent her to a crack house in a jealous fit.

Once Sunshine was done with her phone call, she walked to the sinks and finally noticed Rachel. "Hi," Rachel greeted, weakly. Sunshine looked startled before looking resigned.

"You don't have to try anything. I'm not going out there tonight."

"What do you mean? You're supposed to be on in five minutes."

"I can't. I can't do this," Sunshine burst out. "Singing is supposed to be fun. It's what I love but Dustin… he's a miserable human being. He only cares about winning. I just want to go home. I can't do this anymore. Ever since I came to this stupid town, it's been one mistake after another."

Rachel's heart broke a little more and the guilt twisted in her stomach. She stepped forward, ignoring the flinch Sunshine made. She pulled down some of the paper towels and wet it a little, dabbing at the younger girl's running makeup.

"This is a conversation that is long overdue," Rachel said, quietly. "I'm so sorry for everything I did to you at the beginning of this school year. The person I was back then… I'm not proud of the things I did. I made a terrible decision that could've ended a lot worse than it did. I will never be able to fully express how sorry I am that I made you join Vocal Adrenaline because you were that scared. You're right, they're terrible human beings. I should know. I dated one of them."

Sunshine smiled a little but Rachel could tell that it was forced. "Sunshine, you're amazingly talented. You're as good as me. And maybe, possibly, a smidgen of a fraction, a little better than me. Vocal Adrenaline doesn't have anything without you. You need to go out there tonight and show what you've been working towards this whole year. You can quit after that. But don't quit now. You've come way too far, done way too much to not go out there and show all of New York that you're a star. You can do this."

"Why are you being nice to me? I'm the competition."

"Because you're right. Singing should be about having fun doing what you love. I lost sight of that once but good friends showed me that it doesn't have to be all about winning. It should be about being happy doing what you love. You and I we're not that different. Singing is your passion. It's what drives you. Tonight is a big deal. Singing on that stage where only the best get to perform is huge. You earned that place tonight. And it's not right if you don't take it."

Sunshine gave a shaky smile before doing something unexpected. She wrapped her arms around Rachel's neck and hugged her tightly. Rachel felt the guilt slide away as hugged the smaller girl back. She would always regret what she did but if she could help the girl find some small peace of mind tonight well… maybe she was on the right track after all.

_**Vocal Adrenaline to the stage. Vocal Adrenaline to the stage. **_

"That's your cue," Rachel said, pulling away with a smile. "You're going to be amazing. I already know it. But don't worry about Dustin or even the rest of those jerks. Just have fun. And let you shine through."

Sunshine nodded. "Thank you, Rachel. Really. Thanks. And good luck tonight."

"Thanks," Rachel beamed. Sunshine started to walk out the bathroom when Rachel called her back. "Just so you know, there is a glee club where singing is fun. I hear they're always on the lookout for more talent. And just think, you wouldn't even have to audition."

Sunshine smiled, a little more genuinely. "I think I might have to look into that." She gave Rachel one last smile before walking out the bathroom. The door hadn't even closed before Santana and Tina were bursting out the stall to crowd her against the sink.

"What the hell was that?"

"And what have you done with the real Rachel Berry?"

Rachel glared at her two friends before pushing them away. The three girls stood in the odd stare off before collapsing in a fit of giggles. She waited until Tina washed her face and made herself somewhat presentable before grabbing both of their hands. She truly wasn't concerned about Vocal Adrenaline's performance tonight. She was going to go out there, sing the songs that she wrote with her friends and have fun. If they won, that would be great. And if they didn't, at least she was doing what she loved with the people she loved.

They walked the long, winding corridors packed with students racing back and forth prepping for their performance. After a few minutes, they were back amongst their friends. Brittany and Mike were going over last minute choreography with Kurt, Finn, Mercedes and Lauren. Artie and Dave were sitting together with Blaine talking about some ridiculous game they all loved. Quinn was pacing nearby, a habit that stopped as soon as Tina walked over and smacked her on the back of the head. Sam and Puck were huddled together with Jesse in the corner. But for once they didn't look like they were arguing. It almost looked like… they were actually talking? She drifted closer to the three boys.

"Don't let Dustin get to you," Jesse said. "If he's resorting to mind tricks this late in the game, it's because he's worried. He should be. Aside from his star, they don't have much in the way of talent this year. And you guys, well you're all pretty talented."

Rachel's eyes widened at the casual praise that fell from Jesse's mouth. She was happy to note that Santana was just as surprised as her. She nudged her best friend. "Looks like everyone is doing a little growing up these days."

"It's about damn time," Santana murmured. She linked pinkies with Rachel as they watched their friends and waited for their time to perform.

_**New Directions to the stage. New Directions to the stage. **_

Rachel took a deep, calming breath. Santana squeezed her hand. "You ready to go get it right?"

Her eyes drifted to Puck who was still standing with Jesse and Sam. He smiled in her direction and gave her a thumbs up. She beamed in his direction. "I already have. But let's go kick some ass."

"After you, midget."

She stepped out onto the stage, taking in the hushed crowd before her. A smile tilted her lips briefly as she realized that this was her place. She could have it all. She could have friends and a family and she could have the stage. And she was going to have fun doing it all. She damn well finally got it right.

* * *

"What the hell was that?!" Jesse's voice bellowed over the excited teenagers gathered in the lobby outside the theater. He charged right over to Puck and Rachel. "At what point did you decide to throw in that almost kiss?"

"It kinda just happened," Puck said, almost apologetically. Rachel tightened her grip on her boyfriend. During their duet, both were caught up in the emotions of the song. They almost kissed but Puck managed to pull away at the last minute. But she didn't miss the darkened look in his eyes. He knew as well as she did that theatrics were not appreciated by the judges. The bad mood settled as soon as they stepped off the stage and it looked like Jesse was not about to let him get over it.

"It just happened?" Jesse repeated, incredulously. "Do you have any idea how perfect that was?"

"What?" Puck asked, flatly.

"I was watching from the audience," Jesse went on, as if he hadn't said the single most surprising thing he could possibly say…. Ever. "The whole audience was eating it up. They loved it. I think it actually would been more effective if you two really had kissed."

"But you were the one telling me that over the top dramatics aren't appreciated."

"Yeah, over the top," Jesse rolled his eyes. "You two have natural chemistry together. You look like you're two steps away from jumping each other while discussing breakfast choices. That comes out stronger when you're singing. Especially something that you wrote. The audience was loving it. I don't know about the judges but from what I saw, they were impressed too." He nodded. "I have to say, you did good, Puckerman. But I always thought you could."

"I," Puck started, trailing off. "Uh."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Jesse smirked. He then looked to Rachel. "I could tell you that you and your little friends have made me want to be a better man, but that would be really sappy and kinda pointless. So what I will tell you is that I'm trying. I'm sorry for everything I've done in the past and even in the past few weeks. I've been a dick. But I'm working on changing."

Rachel chewed on her lip before sticking out a hand. "Welcome to the reformed divas club." He laughed, taking her hand. "So are you sticking around?"

"Yeah, actually, Mr. Schue offered to let me stay on board with New Directions in the fall. I was thinking of taking some classes, you know, maybe making this a thing or something."

"You're thinking about being a show choir director? What happened to your making it big dreams?"

"I realized that this is something I'm good at," Jesse admitted. "And it's actually fun. Broadway and show business, they'll always be there. And maybe one day I will. But for right now, I think Schue is going to need all the help he can get managing all of you guys. There's a lot more of you than there used to be."

Rachel giggled. "Yes, I see your point. Thank you, Jesse."

"No, thank you, Rachel." He cleared his throat, looking to the still shocked Puck. "And thank you, Noah. I've always known you could be the better man. The one that could be the true lead of New Directions, on and off the stage. Tonight you proved it. But don't think I'm going easy on your ass next year. I expect you to be coming up with songs to sing during your audition for Julliard. Maybe we can come up with a portfolio."

Puck blinked and nodded his head. Rachel quietly marveled at the almost adorably bashful look on his face. Jesse shook his head once before walking over to Santana. She watched as he started to fumble through an apology but Santana just punched him on the arm and slung an arm around his shoulders. Clearly, she was accepting him into the family too.

"So is it just me or did everyone get replaced with pod people this year?"

Rachel pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Nope, I think it's just you. Everyone seems perfectly normal to me." He growled at her. She laughed, winding her arms around his neck. "I love you, Noah."

"I love you, Rachel." He opened his mouth to most likely say that he was sorry again. But this time Rachel cut him off.

"If you apologize one more time for almost kissing me, I will kick you in a very sensitive place. The only thing that I'm upset about right now is that you haven't kissed me for real."

He grinned. "Well, can't have that," he murmured before finally placing his lips on hers. She didn't give a damn if those stupid judges thought it was inappropriate. Kissing Puck was something she could do all day, every day.

Suddenly a hush fell over the gaggle of students outside. Rachel turned away from Puck to see that there were dozens of students gathered around a paper on the wall outside the theater. The list. They posted the list of who placed. She felt Puck tense in her arms. And as much as she wanted to charge over there and see it for herself, she couldn't leave him. So she stayed with him, watching with the others as Will and Emma crossed the room to read the paper themselves.

"Someone should go over there," Kurt whispered. Rachel turned to see that all of the New Directions kids were huddled together. All eyes were on their teachers. Even Jesse seemed caught up in the moment of tension. Finally, Will made it through the crowd. Rachel had to give the man credit. He started at the top of the paper. His finger tracing a downward path. He tapped a name near the bottom of the sheet and nodded to something Emma was saying. Then they were making their way back to group. "Oh, god. We didn't place. We didn't place."

"Hummel, it's fine," Santana snapped. "So we didn't place. We did our best and we did it with style. We'll just have to do better next year."

"Yeah, next year," the others chorused.

"Guys, I'm so sorry," Will started, chewing on his lip absently. Rachel felt her heart plummet at the unspoken confirmation. Will shook his head. "It looks like we're going to have to dust off a few cover songs after all. I know you guys were really into original songs."

"Wait, what?"

"We're in the Top Ten. We're going to finals!" Will grinned. An excited murmur started amongst the gathered teens.

"But, you were looking at the bottom of the list," Quinn protested.

"That's because we were looking to see where Vocal Adrenaline came in," Emma smiled a little darkly. "I don't suppose Carmel will be too happy with Dustin for not even placing."

Jesse chuckled, crossing his arm over his chest and looking back at his former team. Dustin was loudly berating them. Jesse shook his head before turning back to the New Directions. "Alright, nerds. So you placed. Now you have to impress them one more time."

"I'm calling it now, no more solos for me," Puck announced. "I don't think my heart can take it anymore." Rachel giggled, hugging him tightly.

"You disappoint me, Puckerman," Jesse chided with a grin. "Well, guess that's another thing we're going to need to work on during the summer."

"Thanks, Rach," Puck hissed in her ear. "It's official. You've created a monster. I think I liked him better when he was working against us!"

"You're just mad that I managed to bring Jesse from the dark side when you and Brittany couldn't even do it."

She honestly could say that she didn't care how they did tomorrow. The shocked silent look on his face was totally worth anything that happened with the competition the next day. Whether they came in first, second or even last. Getting one over on her plotting genius of a boyfriend was totally worth it.

* * *

In the end, they came in second. First would've been awesome but second was just as good. It was a lot better than fourteen which is where Vocal Adrenaline placed. But for once the underdogs came out slightly on top and it felt good. It felt even better because Will was allowing them to be the silly teens that they were and bask in their victory. Which meant that their very large second place trophy was coming on the plane. Artie initially wanted to buy an extra plane ticket for it. Will compromised and said that he would let them check it at the gate so that they could keep posing with it while they waited for their flight back to Lima. And that is exactly what they were doing.

Rachel smiled as her friends continued to switch places, posing in a variety of groups around the shiny statue. They were loud and giggling and happy. But most importantly they were comfortable with who they were. They weren't trying to hide that they knew each other. Mercedes and Finn were happily kissing in plain view of everyone. Kurt snapped a picture of them earlier and posted it to Facebook. Rachel thought there was going to be an epic meltdown but instead Finn made it his profile picture and updated his Facebook relationship status. Facebook official was something even Rachel couldn't get in the beginning stages of their relationship. But instead of being jealous or angry, Rachel just felt proud of how far her ex-boyfriend… no her friend, had come.

"What's taking Puck so long?" Sam complained. Rachel's brow furrowed as she glanced in the direction of the newsstand. Ten minutes ago, Puck walked off to the newsstand with the intent to buy a New York newspaper for his grandmother. She had a collection of newspapers from every city she ever visited. But she never got one from New York. Puck was determined to fix that for her. But that was ten minutes ago. There were few passengers in the airport so there couldn't have been a line. So what was the hold up?

"Guys, we're about to board in twenty minutes. I want to meet before we get on the plane," Will called over the noise of happy teenagers. Sam and Rachel exchanged looks again before deciding to just go after their wayward friend. They didn't have to look very far. He was exactly where he said he would be. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone.

"I don't think you're really understanding the opportunity I'm offering you here," Dustin said, leaning far too close to Puck for anyone's comfort. He took a step back glaring at the Carmel coach.

"Oh, I think I understand you perfectly," Puck retorted. "If I transfer to Carmel, you'll not only pay all my future medical bills but you'll also pull some strings and get me into the college of my choice. And the only thing I have to do is betray my friends and family."

"You're young. You'll have plenty of time to make new friends. Better friends that aren't quite so weird looking," Dustin assured him. "Think about this, Puckerman. Your mother is already overworked and stretched to the max taking care of you and your sister. Your medical bills are expensive. This deal will help take some of that burden off your poor mother."

Rachel felt her fists clench but she remained on the sidelines, silently watching. On the one hand, she was slightly disappointed that Puck was even listening to Dustin. But on the practical hand, she understood why. The hospital bills from the accident alone was eating up his mother's savings. The ongoing cost of constant monitoring and checkups was practically bankrupting them. The Hudson-Hummel family attempted to pick up some of the bills but Debra refused. She didn't hold Finn anymore responsible for the accident than Puck did. They were of the firm belief that they could work it out. And they were. But this deal, this offer, would make things even easier.

"You're a star," Dustin continued, taking Puck's silence as a good thing. "You think that your little band of freaks would've made it as far in that competition without you. You deserve to be front and center, not hidden in the background. Join Vocal Adrenaline and we will make you a star. We'll make you famous and all of the other concerns you have will be a thing of the past."

Puck nodded slowly. "Yeah, I have to get back to you on that one, Dustin. But thanks for the offer. It's been… really good talking to you." He tipped his head in Dustin's direction before spinning on his heel and walking away quickly. Rachel and Sam watched as his eyes drifted around seemingly looking for something. He saw them and looked surprised before continuing his search.

Finally he spotted what he was looking for. Or rather who as he headed slightly past them towards an airport security agent. Rachel and Sam exchanged confused looks once more and followed after him.

"Hello, Agent Dinozzo," Puck smiled, reading the man's nametag. "I just wanted to report that there was a man acting suspiciously in the newsstand over there. He approached me and made me feel very… uncomfortable. I think he might've been one of those guys you read about in the papers. You know the ones that shouldn't be allowed near schools and stuff. I have mentioned that I'm sixteen years old. Right? Oh, well there's that. Also I don't think he actually has a flight today."

The agent didn't listen much longer. He was already barking orders on the radio to his partner and ordering him to meet him at the newsstand. The man nodded at Puck before running off in the direction they just came from. Fortunately, the angle they were standing in allowed the three teens the perfect view of Dustin being tackled to the ground by several aggressive TSA agents.

"That was even more awesome than I expected," Puck grinned. He glanced at Sam and Rachel. "Did you guys need me for something?"

"Why didn't you take the deal?" Sam asked, seemingly against himself. "He was right."

"He was. It would've been awesome to not have to worry about paying yet another freaking hospital bill but music makes me... I don't know _happy_. I don't want to be a miserable, soul sucking automaton like the rest of the Vocal Adrenaline assholes. I want to be chilling, writing music with my friends. And I am."

Rachel smiled, taking his hand in hers. "Your mother might kill you for turning down an offer like that."

"I doubt it," Puck snorted. "She'll back any decision that leads to her getting gorgeous completely Jewish grandbabies. And I don't think the Carmel deal would've led to that."

"I don't know. I can actually see it. The dashing rogue male lead of Vocal Adrenaline and the talented ingénue of New Directions. Star crossed lovers divided by fate. Sounds romantic to me."

"Sounds played out," Puck corrected, dragging her back to the gate area. Sam followed behind, snickering. "Sounds like it's been done before and it ended with you covered in egg."

"Still reliving the past, Puckerman?" Jesse sniped as they joined the rest of the gleeks.

"Nope, enjoying my present and dreading my future with you around."

"As you should be."

"Anyway," Will laughed. "I wanted to meet with you all before we started home to tell you that I'm so proud of all of you. You've come a long way since the beginning of this school year. You should be proud of yourselves as well. So to celebrate the growth that we've all made, I decided that after each competition we should reward that individual that has gone above and beyond to make sure that each performance is great. It's a way to recognize the talent that we all have and to honor that. Since I came up with this idea at the end of the year, I decided that we could instead celebrate the one person that has demonstrated the hardest work and inspired all of us to be the best that we could be. The one that in general just embodies everything that we want New Directions to be about."

Rachel hid a smile. She knew where this was headed. Will and Jesse had approached them all individually to get their vote on the subject. She knew without asking who they all voted for. It was really a no-brainer.

"Anyway, you all voted to make sure that it was a totally fair process and it was a unanimous decision save for two votes," Jesse continued. "And the winner of the first ever New Directions MVP award is…. Noah Puckerman."

"What?" Puck asked, flatly.

"Who the hell voted against him?" Santana and Rachel snapped at the same time.

Kurt cleared his throat. "Uh, well that would be me. I voted for myself," he admitted. "I thought we were all doing that. But then Mercedes corrected me and I changed my vote! So it should've been only one vote not for Puck."

"It was," Will mock glared at Jesse. "There was one vote for Rachel (and that was from Puck) and then the corrected vote for Puck." He glanced at the still surprised Puck. "The MVP award is a gift certificate for two to Breadstix as well as $50 gift card to be used anywhere."

"I think our first winner should give a speech," Blaine taunted. This was quickly followed by several more calls for a speech until they were all chanting "speech". However, they fell on deaf ears as Puck continued to stand like a statue surrounded by his friends. His mouth was opened slightly and his eyes were wider than Rachel had ever seen them.

"Puck?" Santana called, catching on that something wasn't right. She tapped him on the arm. He jumped, blinking back into awareness. "You ok?"

"Uh, I, I was just… why me?"

"You're kidding, right?" Quinn asked, incredulous. "Puck, look around. The answer is obvious. All of this is because of you." His eyes widened even more. "You have to know that all of this. This family that we built is because of you."

"I didn't do anything."

"The hell you didn't," Santana protested. "You forced me to get out of my bed the first freaking Saturday into winter break and practically begged me to be friends with Rachel. You crossed the invisible line we all had built up, Puck, and then you broke it. You made it so that we didn't have any more excuses. We had no reasons to pretend not to like each other. And sadly enough, it was the accident and how you handled it that made us more of a family."

"You bought all of us together. Lauren, Dave and Blaine wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you," Sam added.

"Britt helped with that."

"But Dave and Blaine were both your ideas in the first place," Brittany corrected. "I just helped. But you're the one that made everything different… better."

"We're still losers to everyone else but we're more than that to one another now that we're all together on the same page," Artie spoke up. "And as you can tell it's pretty much unanimously agreed that you're the one that sparked that change.'

"So stop being such a girl about this," Blaine said, grinning. The gesture pulled a soft smile from Puck. "Go accept your award, so we can all start fighting about who you're taking with you to Breadstix."

Puck let out a shaky breath before stepping forward to accept the envelope in Will's hands. "Thank you, Mr. Schue."

Will smiled softly before pulling him into a hug. "No, thank you, Noah. Thank you."

* * *

"I can't believe that you didn't pack enough meds," Santana complained as Sam steered the car towards Puck's house. On the flight home, they'd all agreed that they were going to spend some time in the choir room setting up the trophy (just another excuse to prolong the New York fun) before heading home. At least that was the plan until a migraine struck sudden and quick and they realized that Puck took the last his medicine the night before. Hence the reason why Santana was bitching and Sam was all but speeding to Pucks house.

"Not my fault," Puck muttered through gritted teeth.

"Sure it is," Rachel countered. He cracked an eye open to stare up at her in disbelief. "You didn't believe we would place that high so you didn't pack enough medication for an extra day. So this is what happens when you don't believe in us."

The lines of pain eased for a moment as a smile worked its way onto his lips. "Et tu, Rachel?"

She giggled, continuing to card her fingers through his hair, pausing every now and then to rub slow circles on his scalp. They pulled to a stop in front of his house in record time. Puck sat up with a grunt of pain that morphed into one of confusion. Rachel, Sam and Santana also stopped short at the sight of driveway full of cars.

"What the hell…?"

Puck was out the car as fast as he could move. Rachel hurried after him, not caring if Santana or Sam were following (they were). Her confusion grew as she recognized her fathers' car. There were a few children gathered outside the house in the front yard, Puck's sister included. Sarah seemed far more subdued than the other children. She was sitting on the front steps talking with another boy that seemed only a few years older than her. Rachel watched as Sarah's eyes lit up at the sight of her beloved older brother. Her companion, on the other hand, looked like he saw a ghost.

"Noah! You're home!"

Puck grunted again as the full gangly mess of limbs that was Sarah Puckerman slammed into him. Sam appeared from nowhere to brace his friend against the added weight and save them both from slamming into the ground.

"Squirt, what's going on? Mom throwing a party that she forgot to invite me too?"

Sarah's face fell as she looked at her brother. "Noah, it's… it's about Nana."

Puck tensed. "Did something happen? She have another attack?"

"Yes. And no, she's not ok. She died last night."

"No, I talked to her last night. She can't be…. She can't be dead because I talked to her!" Puck protested immediately.

"I know. The doctors told mommy that it was a couple of hours after she talked to you. She was happy, you know? That you came so close to winning. Apparently she was telling her roommate all about it. And then…. She was gone."

Puck nodded shakily. He hugged his sister tighter and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'm going to go check on Ma. See if she needs any help with all the company."

Sarah opened her mouth to say something further, her gaze flickered briefly to her friend before she nodded. "Yeah, ok. Also take you medicine. You got a headache, right?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Puck said, dismissively. Rachel studied him with a worried frown. His face was pale and pinched with pain. But it was his trembling hands that caught her attention. She remembered her father emphasized that stress was going to be a major trigger for Puck. That it could set off a relapse of his previous symptoms. She was starting to understand what he meant.

Rachel turned around to Sam to alert him but the blonde was on the phone, as was Santana. She caught a brief snippet of their conversation. Enough to know that they were alerting presumably Brittany and Blaine about Puck's grandmother and the fact that they would not be returning to the choir room. Rachel knew that most of the gleeks would be over within the hour. She turned back to Puck just in time to see Puck's legs give out. Thankfully, the boy with Sarah reached him before hit the ground.

"Noah!"

"What happened?"

Sam and Santana abruptly ended their calls in unison and crowded around their friend. Sam eased him away from the stranger, knowing how sensitive Puck was about people seeing him while he was like that. He helped prop him up on his shoulder. Puck managed a weak nod.

"Dude, learn to use your words," Sam chided softly. "You know you're supposed to ask if you feel weak. It's not a bad thing, dude."

"I didn't… I didn't know…" Puck trailed off.

Sam sighed. "Come on, let's get you inside."

Santana cleared the people that had started to gather around the teens away and moved ahead to open the doors to the house for Sam and Puck. Rachel lingered behind for a moment. She noticed that the boy's gaze followed Puck's slow movements. There was a hint of sadness in his features that was strangely familiar to Rachel.

"Thanks you for your help," she said, wanting to erase that hurt look. "My name is Rachel. Rachel Berry. I'm Noah's girlfriend."

"Uh, Jake," he mumbled. She looked at him questioningly. "Just Jake."

"Ok. So did you know Connie?"

"Kinda," he answered shortly. He looked back at the house. "Do you know what's wrong with him?"

"Noah was in an accident earlier this year. He's still not back at one hundred percent. Not that you can tell him that," she offered him a small smile. "I have to go check on him now. But I hope to see you again, Just Jake."

"Yeah," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "I think you will."

Ignoring that, for now, Rachel walked into the house. She found Puck sitting on the sofa in the living room with Santana beside him and his mother hovering over them. Sam was pacing slightly behind the sofa, back on the phone and trying to call off the whole gleek army. Leroy Berry was sitting on the coffee table examining his favorite patient.

"This is why we should've picked them up from the airport, Deb," Leroy said, checking Puck's blood pressure. "Stress is not good for Noah. Especially given the amount of physical activity he's been engaging in, Too much by the way. You need to take it easy or you're going to end up right back in the hospital. And I know that you don't want that. I know the nurses want that even less."

"Why?" All conversations fell silent as Puck looked up at his mother. "Why didn't you tell me about Nana? Why did you let Sarah have to be the one to tell me?"

"Oh, baby," Debra shook her head. "You were so happy last night. I couldn't… I wanted you to hold on to that happiness as long as possible. You've been through so much in your life. And I could hear how happy you were. I couldn't tell you about Connie. And that was my mistake. But I know how close you two were. I couldn't ruin your happiness last night."

Puck closed his eyes, massaging the bridge of his nose. A telltale sign that his headache was getting worse. "That's it, right? No more surprises?"

"Uh, well…." She trailed off as a woman entered the room. She handed Debra a glass of water. Debra in turn handed the glass to Leroy who gave it to Puck to take his medication. Rachel gave small sigh of relief that at least his headache would be easing off in a few minutes. "Thanks, Tanisha."

"No problem." The woman started to walk away but Debra held onto her arm. They exchanged looks. "Are you sure about this?"

"This is already hard enough. I don't have it in me to hide anything else. Besides Connie wanted them to know about each other. If I didn't know better, I'd say she planned this."

"Nana planned what?"

Neither woman answered. Instead Tanisha slipped out the room, returning a few moments later with Jake. Now that she was getting a better look at him, Rachel found that Jake was probably close to Puck's age. He was in the middle between the two Puckerman siblings. He also looked extremely uncomfortable to be in the living room.

"Ma, what's going on?"

"Noah, this is Tanisha's son, Jake… Puckerman. He's your brother."

"Oh my god," Santana gasped, echoed by Sam and Rachel. Puck's jaw dropped open even as he took in his half-brother. Jake mustered a weak smile that looked more like a grimace. Rachel couldn't believe she didn't realize how much they resembled each other until that moment.

Despite the darker skin and eyes, Jake Puckerman was a carbon copy of his older brother. Rachel and Puck knew each other practically since birth. That was one of the perks of being one of the few Jewish families in the town. She could see fourteen year old Puck in Jake. She saw the boy that made the conscious decision to stop being Noah and become Puck. She could see the same defensive walls and anger in his eyes that was only masking how much he was deeply hurting underneath it all. She could see it all and she knew that Puck could see it too.

Eventually Jake grew tired of the awkward silence and stares. "Look, we don't have to be best friends or anything. I'm only here because my grandmother that I met literally like twice my whole life wanted me to be here. I'll be out of your hair as soon as this is over."

Puck tilted his head to the side. "Wow, so that's what that sounds like. You're right, babe, it is annoying."

Rachel hid a smile as Puck slipped back into his usual nonchalant tone. She knew they would be talking about his feelings on the newest Puckerman after the guests and well-wishers were gone but for now he was putting his own emotions to the side and focusing on his little brother. She twisted the ring on her finger. Yeah, he was definitely a forever kind of love.

"Look, obviously you know more about me than I do about you but maybe that could change. And don't worry, I'm not looking for anymore best friends. I've already got way too many. But brothers, that's new. Think we could try that?"

Jake looked hesitant. He glanced between Puck and his mother. Tanisha gave him an encouraging smile. "Yeah," he finally muttered. "I guess that could work."

"Awesome," Puck grinned. "Your first act is to great the entire extended family."

"Huh?" Jake asked before the answer revealed itself in the entire glee club (plus Will, Emma and Jesse) barging into the living room all talking at once. They stopped talking once they realized there was one more Puckerman in the room than originally planned. That launched an entire new round of conversation coupled with Brittany poking him. Jake was looking completely overwhelmed… but slightly amused. Tanisha and Debra watched them from the sidelines with pride in their eyes. Rachel sat down next to Puck, taking his hand in hers and tangling their fingers together.

"You ok?" she whispered. He gave her a sad look and shook his head.

"I will be," he promised, kissing her forehead. "It's going to take more than a surprise little brother to take me out." Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I admit that just threw me but I remember my parents fighting about a slut waitress when I was a kid. One guess who they were talking about. I gotta say she doesn't seem that slutty to me."

Rachel giggled, burying her face on his shoulder. "Noah, do not flirt with your brother's mother."

"I wouldn't," he protested with a slight smile. "Besides I'm hanging up the cougar hat. I've found the woman of my dreams. And I have no intentions of looking anywhere else." His smile dimmed. "Especially since I promised Nana. I gave you her ring, Rach. I mean it. This, you and me, it's for as long as you can take me."

"Then I guess it's going to be forever," Rachel smiled. "I've known you since I could talk, Noah. And I haven't ever gotten tired of you. Not even when you went through the regrettable slushy throwing stage. You're my leading man. You're my Prince Charming. Every time I think I know you, I find some new reason to fall even more in love with you. Who could ever get tired of that?"

He flushed, smiling shyly. "Ok, I love you too, Rachel."

"Good," she kissed him softly. "Now you might want to save your little brother. I think Blaine and Sam are fighting over who gets dibs on him."

Puck raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the two idiots who shared the mantle of his (male) best friends and rolled his eyes. He stood up shakily but managed to make it over between his brother and the two older teens. Rachel tilted her head to the side watching the scene with a smile on her face. She noticed that though Jake wanted to act tough and that he didn't need Puck, he naturally gravitated towards him. They all did. Though he rarely spoke up in glee club, when he did, people took notice. Matt and Mike joined glee club because of him. When Jesse and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline egged Rachel in the parking lot, it was Puck leading the charge against them. He was a natural born leader. Maybe Jesse was right. Maybe Puck was meant to be the lead of New Directions after all.

* * *

*The End… for now. Originally, I had intended to end this story here… and I very well might. But then I started watched Season Four of Glee and I fell in love with Jake Puckerman and the very adorable bromance between Puck and Jake. I found the inspiration I was struggling to find for almost a year. And now there is more to this. Really this story has taken on a life of itself. It's never been my priority story but it's suddenly become one of my favorites. I like to think of it as a logical season two. And so I'm tempted to create a logical version of season three with Jake included in the storyline. I wonder how Jake's story would evolve with earlier exposure to New Directions, especially his brother.

So let me know what you think. Should I continue this path or just let this story end already? I appreciate all feedback. Thanks everyone! Until next time!


End file.
